By Joyce Lee
SEOUL, Sept 21 (Reuters) – A South Korean opposition lawmaker called on Monday for parliamentary scrutiny of Seoul’s planned US investment package, warning that negotiations over energy projects could leave South Korea carrying disproportionate financial risks.
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The comments come as Seoul and Washington seek to finalise projects under South Korea’s broader $350 billion US investment commitment, agreed as part of a trade deal that reduced US tariffs on South Korean goods to 15%.
Implementation of the trade deal has been delayed, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten South Korea with higher tariffs earlier this year.
Kim Sung-won, chairman of the National Assembly’s trade committee, said he met South Korea’s top trade envoy, Park Jung-sung, to review the status of the negotiations.
Kim said South Korean-designed nuclear reactors could be prevented from entering the US market, while conditions for a power plant project were “deteriorating”. He also cited concerns that the United States could receive most of the profits while South Korea bore potential losses.
“Things become more worrying the closer one looks,” Kim wrote in a Facebook post.
The two governments have been discussing energy investments including a large gas-fired power project in Texas and a project to build up to eight nuclear reactors, according to recent media reports.
The reports said negotiations had been complicated by differences over reactor technology, financing and the allocation of profits and losses.
Kim, an opposition People Power Party lawmaker, criticised the government’s plan to provide lawmakers with an Industry Ministry briefing rather than seek formal consent, noting that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had acknowledged some elements of the negotiations would not be easy to accept.
“We face a number of external challenges… But I believe if we deliberate calmly, make sound judgments and decisions with the lives and safety of our people and South Korea’s national interests as our foremost principles, we can find wise solutions,” Lee told a meeting with his aides on Monday before departing to attend the UN General Assembly in the United States.
On the lawmaker’s call for parliamentary approval, the Industry Ministry said the government will proceed with its US strategic investments according to South Korean law.
The ministry postponed a parliamentary briefing last week, saying more time was needed as talks with Washington continued.
The briefing is now expected to take place on Tuesday, according to a Seoul official familiar with the issue and media reports.
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(Reporting by Joyce LeeEditing by Ed Davies)
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