South Korea's $200 billion investment into the U.S., which President Donald Trump said would transform America "for generations," is not a done deal in totality.
The South Korean investment plan includes nuclear power plants, a natural gas power facility in Texas and potentially the long-planned Alaska LNG project.
Trump in a Truth Social post late Wednesday stateside said the countries had agreed to work on the Alaska LNG project, pegging its value at $50 billion, drawing a response from South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung, who emphasized that involvement in some of the projects remains subject to commercial considerations.
Lee in an X post on Thursday local time said that participation in the Alaska LNG project was dependent on its financial viability and legal compliance. He added that investments in nuclear power plants would also require assessment of commercial viability on a plant-by-plant basis.
Trump had hailed South Korean investments in his post late Wednesday stateside, saying that the countries had agreed to work on the Alaska LNG project, pegging its value at $50 billion.
The joint statement earlier on Wednesday, however, had mentioned that work on the project was contingent on "commercial reasonableness," without highlighting details on allocations toward the project.
The Alaska LNG project seeks to transport natural gas roughly 1,300 kilometers from fields on Alaska's North Slope to the southern part of the state, where it would be liquefied for export to markets including Asia, reported Yonhap. The project has faced longstanding questions over its economics given the large upfront investment required.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan had described it as "high-risk" last year and said participation would be difficult unless it could generate sufficient cash flow.
Overall, the investment package includes $22.3 billion for a 6,472-megawatt natural gas power facility in Encinal, Texas, that will supply electricity to co-located data centers. The project will be led by developer Related Companies and U.S. power company NextEra Energy, with the first phase expected to begin commercial operations in 2029 and the full facility coming online in stages by 2032.
Trump said the investments would turn South Korea's commitments into "huge construction projects" and create "tens of thousands of American jobs."
"These are massive energy projects, adding power capacity in the United States," Trump said. "This is new construction, new manufacturing, and great jobs for American workers."
The two countries said they would seek to expand Korean companies' participation in the Texas project across equipment supply, engineering and construction, as well as long-term operations and maintenance. The U.S. also intends to give Korean companies opportunities to supply equipment, including turbines, to similar projects in the country.
Another $120 billion has been allocated to plans for eight large-scale nuclear reactors in the U.S. Of that amount, $100 billion is earmarked for construction costs and $20 billion for contingency reserves.
The nuclear agreement was signed by both governments as well as Westinghouse Electric, Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. The plan also calls for pursuing a potential significant minority investment in Westinghouse by Korean companies, with the terms subject to commercial negotiations.