The special act on investment in the United States cleared The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 11th. The special act on investment in the United States is expected to be handled at the National Assembly plenary session on the 12th.
On the day, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a subcommittee meeting in the morning and a full committee meeting in the afternoon in succession, and passed the Special Act on Strategic Investment Management between Korea and the United States (special act on investment in the United States) with 11 votes in favor and 1 abstention out of 12 members present.
The bill calls for establishing a decision-making system for investment in the United States by creating a Project Management Committee under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources to manage investment risk and an Operations Committee under the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Under the structure, the Project Management Committee reviews the commercial rationality of candidate projects for investment in the United States, and then the Operations Committee decides whether to move the investment forward.
A new Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation will be established to exclusively support investment in the United States. The Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation will have capital of 2 trillion won and up to three executives. Under the corporation, a Risk Management Committee, a decision-making body separate from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, will be set up. Only those with more than 10 years of experience in finance, investment, or strategic industries can serve as president of the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation. The number of employees at the corporation will be capped at 50.
The resources of the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Fund will be: ▲ contributions to the corporation ▲ entrusted asset with prior consent from the trustee institution ▲ funds related to the issuance of Korea-U.S. strategic investment bonds ▲ government or trustee institution borrowing fund ▲ contributions from corporations, associations, and organizations ▲ income such as fund management profits ▲ other resources prescribed by presidential decree.
To ensure transparency in investment in the United States, the government must submit an annual report each year containing fund management and investment performance. In addition, instead of seeking the National Assembly's consent for each investment case, it must report in advance to the Strategy and Finance Committee and the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee.
The Legislation and Judiciary Committee also excluded corporate contributions from the fund's resources. Choo Mi-ae, chair of the committee, told the government, "Please be mindful so that individual corporations are not specially seconded and forced to invest," and added, "Even if nothing else works, please make efforts in advance to prevent such concerns."
The National Assembly has moved quickly to pass the special act on investment in the United States following U.S. President Donald Trump's move to reinstate higher tariff rates. Earlier, in January, U.S. President Donald Trump said Korea was not implementing the trade agreement and announced that reciprocal tariffs and other measures would be raised again from 15% to 25%.