The United States pressures Korea to participate in the Alaska LNG project... Government 'not confirmed'

Mentioned as a follow-up project to the Texas power plant and large nuclear power plant

There is also a possibility of remittance of some of the investment amount at the end of this month... Government: “Nothing has been confirmed”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Bo-in and Jeong Yeon-sol = It has been reported that the U.S. government is strongly demanding Korea's participation in the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project as one of its investment projects in the United States.

The government's stance is that it has not confirmed a specific project, but future negotiations are expected to be difficult due to strong pressure from the United States.

According to the National Assembly and government authorities on the 9th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy recently mentioned the possibility of participating in the Alaska LNG project in the process of reporting privately to the National Assembly on the progress of follow-up negotiations on strategic investment between Korea and the United States.

An official from the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee said, "We have not yet decided whether to do the Alaska project or not, and the intention was that it could change depending on the results of the negotiations. Our original position was that we would follow the feasibility study (results) because it was not profitable, but it is difficult to say that because the United States is making such strong demands."

The Alaska Project is one of U.S. President Donald Trump's key national tasks, and its main content is to transport natural gas extracted from Alaska's North Slope region to the vicinity of Anchorage through a gas pipeline of approximately 1,300 km, liquefy it, and then supply it to demand sites.

To date, the prevailing assessment of this project is that it is difficult to ensure commercial rationality due to uncertainty in securing profitability.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-kwan also expressed his disapproval at the National Assembly in November last year, calling the project a “high-risk project.”

However, President Trump has repeatedly mentioned the possibility that Korea and Japan's investment in the United States will be used for projects.

Last year, Korea promised a total of $350 billion worth of investment in the U.S., including the shipbuilding sector ($150 billion) and strategic investment ($200 billion), under the condition of lowering tariffs with the U.S. from 25% to 15%.

It has been reported that the government has virtually selected the construction of the Encinal Gas Combined Cycle Power Plant in Texas as the first investment project and the construction of a large nuclear power plant as the second project.

Considering that the Encinal power plant could cost $22 billion and the construction of eight large nuclear power plants could cost more than $120 billion, there are concerns that adding the Alaska project will exceed the $200 billion strategic investment.

The Korean government is said to be holding last-minute negotiations to ensure that the actual investment scale does not exceed the limit of the investment fund for the United States.

Investment projects in the United States are gradually entering the implementation phase.

It is reported that the government will announce an investment project in the United States on the 18th.

In this case, there is a possibility that the first investment, estimated to be around $2 billion, will be remitted to the United States by the end of this month.

An official from the Finance and Economy Committee conveyed the sentiment by saying, “I don’t remember the party and government specifically reporting the date of the remittance (to the United States),” adding, “What the United States is asking for is for the announcement to be made quickly.”

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained, "Regarding investments in the United States, the specific investment destination and timing of announcement, as well as the size and timing of the first investment remittance, have not been confirmed."

Regarding the scale of investment, he said, "According to the strategic investment agreement (MOU), under no circumstances will the total investment in the United States exceed $200 billion, and the annual remittance limit will not exceed $20 billion."