The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources will hold a closed ruling-party–government consultation at 11 a.m. on the 7th to report the results of investment negotiations with the United States to the Democratic Party of Korea. Under the special law on investment in the United States, the government must make such a report to the competent National Assembly standing committee before concluding negotiations, and some see this meeting as a sign that the talks are effectively in their final stage.
According to the National Assembly on the 6th, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) plans to brief Democratic Party lawmakers on the Finance and Economy Planning Committee and the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee on the outline and scale of the deal and the next steps.
Park Jeong-seong, head of the Office of the Minister for Trade, and working-level officials are expected to attend. Minister Kim must accompany President Lee Jae-myung on a trip to France, so the working-level team decided to deliver the details to the National Assembly first.
Minister Kim made an unscheduled trip to the United States on the 16th of last month to meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and on the 1st of this month also visited the United States to attend the Group of 20 (G20) innovation ministers' meeting and sat down again with Secretary Lutnick, devoting intensive efforts to the final stretch of the negotiations over the past month.
After finishing the party–government consultation, the Democratic Party plans to inform the People Power Party of the details and coordinate the schedule for a full session of the Finance and Economy Committee and the Industry Committee.
For the first project, a combined-cycle liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant in Texas is being strongly discussed, but the announcement has reportedly been delayed due to differences between Korea and the United States over project costs and the distribution of returns.