Kim Jung-kwan, Korea's minister of trade, industry and resources, speaks during a meeting on resource security in central Seoul on Sept. 22. MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND RESOURCESIndustry Minister Kim Jung-kwan struck a tone at odds with the Trump administration’s announcement that Korea would invest more than $50 billion in Alaska’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
The minister said at a press briefing on Sept. 22 that the project remained under review.
“First and foremost, we will review the Alaska LNG project under the clear principle that we will proceed only if its commercial viability is established," he said during the briefing on the details and progress of Korea’s U.S. investment pledge.
President Donald Trump, however, listed the Alaska energy project alongside the other two investment projects during an announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
"(Korea) will invest up to $200 billion ... to build a 6-gigawatt power generation facility in Texas. That's a major plant. That's about as big as you will see, (and) eight new large-scale nuclear power plants," Trump said.
"And at long last, Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline. That's a big one," he added.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went further to specify that Korea's investments for the LNG project will be more than $50 billion.
Until last year, Kim had described the long-stalled project as "high risk," but his tone has grown more positive in recent months.
"One of our concerns, after the war disrupted Qatar gas supplies, is that our gas routes are too dependent on a narrow set of corridors," he said during the briefing.
Kim also said Korea had defended its position reasonably well in negotiations over its $200 billion investment pledge to the United States, securing safeguards against unfair terms, including a delay in shifting profit-sharing toward Washington.
Korea's agreement with Westinghouse, which had barred Korean-designed nuclear reactors from the U.S. market, is expected to be revised as part of the investment deal — a meaningful shift that would clear a major obstacle to Korean nuclear exports.
"We've put in place a risk-pooling mechanism — the profit split between Korea and the United States on every individual project will stay at 50-50 until Korea has recovered the full principal and interest on its total investment across all projects, and the shift to a 10-90 split [in the U.S. direction] will be held off,” Kim said, adding that this should “give Korea greater assurance of recovering its investment.”
"The original memorandum says if Korea halts funding over a project's viability, the United States can retaliate with higher tariffs — that’s the reason I called it an 'uneven playing field.' This is the strongest safeguard we could build in against that."
Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump share a laugh during a summit in the Oval Office of the White House on Aug. 25, 2025. JOINT PRESS CORPSKorea confirmed that the gas-fired power plant in Texas would be its first project under the investment pledge.
"If a project's viability is judged to have been undermined, the two governments must meet to renegotiate the project's plans, budget or profit-sharing ratio," Kim said.
"There were several U.S. proposals for the subject of the investment, including an LNG terminal in Louisiana and carbon capture projects, but we turned down many of them, prioritizing commercial viability and what would bring the greatest benefit to Korea," he said.
Kim said the Texas project, with a total capacity of 6.3 gigawatts, was expected to generate a return of at least 15 percent, potentially yielding $45 billion over 20 years.
An aerial rendering of the AP1000, a large nuclear reactor that Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Westinghouse are jointly working to expand worldwide. YONHAPAsked whether buyers for the plant's power had been secured, he said that Washington “had agreed to connect the project with major technology companies,” calling that assurance the basis for the project's commercial viability.
The other project involves negotiating an equity stake in Westinghouse tied to the construction of eight nuclear reactors in the United States.
Kim also emphasized that the Westinghouse deal, an estimated $120 billion undertaking to build eight reactors, would open the U.S. market to Korean nuclear exports for the first time.
"As part of this investment, Westinghouse has agreed to revise the agreement that kept Korean reactors out of the U.S. market," he said. "Korea's APR1400 would be the first foreign reactor design to enter the country that pioneered nuclear power."
"This stings Westinghouse's pride," he added. "But they hold only the design IP — they don't have the capacity to build reactors themselves. Given their history of cost overruns, Korea is an attractive option for them."
Westinghouse's most recent reactors, Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia — the first large reactors to break ground in the United States in 34 years — were delayed seven years and came in at nearly two-and-a-half times their original budget.
"We'd like to go further to secure a board seat, but Westinghouse is uneasy about Korea having a seat at the table," Kim said. "Ten percent appears to be the ceiling for board representation, so we're considering a stake below that level."