Anchor: With South Korea and the United States yet to finalize details of their framework agreement on U.S. tariffs, Kim Jung-kwan, Seoul's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said the two sides continue to engage in a tug-of-war. He added that Seoul's pledged investment of 350 billion U.S. dollars will also support South Korean firms seeking to enter the U.S. market.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan, who continues to negotiate the terms of Seoul and Washington's framework trade deal struck in July, said discussions have regained momentum after an impasse.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kim said voices had been raised during the negotiation as both sides sought to generate a win-win agreement.

The minister said Washington would not be the sole beneficiary of Seoul's pledge to invest 350 billion U.S. dollars in its ally's economy, stressing that the arrangement would help South Korean companies do business on American soil.

Asked about arguments that South Korea should settle for 25 percent tariffs rather than executing the investments, Kim said Washington could drastically raise the rate if negotiations were to fall through, citing the cases of India, Switzerland and China.

Kim mentioned that he'd held 20 rounds of discussion with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and said the world is facing a newly born United States that is not the nation it was ten or 20 years ago.

He appeared to indicate that winning a favorable agreement would require more than simply pressure on Washington.

The minister also said that both he and Lutnick had been disconcerted and perplexed by the recent arrest and detention of some 300 South Korean workers during an immigration raid at a Georgia construction site where Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution were building a factory.

On the matter of Japan having already completed tariff negotiations with the United States, Kim said Tokyo had found the best point of agreement for its national interests, and that the move was likely an attempt to gain an advantageous position in the auto sector.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.