S. Korea ready to wire first $2.2b US investment tranche as announcement awaits Trump's go-ahead

South Korea has completed preparations to wire the first $2.2 billion installment of its US investment fund, even as the formal announcement by US President Donald Trump has been delayed by a packed American diplomatic schedule, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. Officials inside and outside the government expect the first disbursement to go through by the end of this month once Washington makes its official announcement.

According to political and government sources, the Korea-US Strategic Investment Corp. has finished readying the $2.2 billion first remittance earmarked for the No. 1 strategic US investment project.

Under Article 7 (Financing) of the MOU on strategic investment the two countries signed last November, South Korea is required to transfer the investment amount in installments — in immediately available US dollar funds — into an account designated by the US Investment Accelerator, starting from the date Korea is notified that the US president has selected the relevant "investment." The MOU also stipulates that the US president holds final decision-making authority over the investment, meaning the funds are to be disbursed only after Trump formally approves and announces the investment.

The official announcement from Washington, however, has taken longer than initially expected. The government briefed the National Assembly on the plan for the first US investment project on Tuesday, but as of Monday no joint announcement had been made by either side. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said US internal procedures have yet to be completed.

"We understand that the US announcement is still going through internal procedures," a government official said, adding that "there are absolutely no remaining disagreements or outstanding issues between the two countries." The official said the government was "continuing to monitor the situation."

A political source said preparations for the first remittance had already been completed and that the funds would be transferred to the US-designated account in accordance with the MOU.

The source added that the announcement had been pushed back by a string of recent events — including the UN General Assembly and the US-China summit — and suggested that the "surprise" summit between President Lee Jae Myung and Trump on Tuesday in the United States came about because progress in the US investment negotiations had reached a point where a meeting became possible.

Trade Minister Park Jeong-seong is also set to travel to the United States on Tuesday on his first overseas trip since taking office, drawing attention to whether he will coordinate with US counterparts on follow-up procedures including the investment disbursement.

Under the framework, the US president selects investment areas based on recommendations from an investment committee chaired by the US commerce secretary. That committee in turn consults in advance with a Korea-US consultative committee chaired by South Korea's trade minister to ensure only commercially sound investments are recommended.

On the Korean side, the process requires review by a Korea-US strategic investment project management committee chaired by the trade minister, deliberation and approval by a Korea-US strategic investment operations committee chaired by the finance minister, and a report to the National Assembly — a step completed on Tuesday.

At that National Assembly briefing, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is understood to have presented the construction of a gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Encinal, Texas, as the first project. The project cost is estimated at around $22.3 billion, and the government assessed it as commercially viable, projecting recoverable returns of roughly $43 billion to $45.4 billion over 20 years. The construction of eight large nuclear power plants in the United States and an Alaska LNG development project were reported as items requiring further consultations.

As the US investment program takes shape, efforts to secure funding are also expected to accelerate. The government has drawn up a plan to deploy up to $20 billion per year in US investments from 2028 through 2030. Over the same period, the Korea-US Strategic Investment Corp. is expected to issue roughly $7 billion in bonds annually. The remaining up to $13 billion per year is to be raised through government and financial institution borrowings, as well as returns from managing foreign exchange reserves allocated to the investment fund.

Meanwhile, Trump attended the UN General Assembly in New York beginning Tuesday (local time), holding a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings with South Korea and other major countries. Starting Wednesday, he focused on diplomatic engagements in Washington, D.C., as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived for a state visit that included a summit. US trade officials subsequently entered the final stages of wrapping up follow-up announcements from the US-China trade negotiations. The succession of US diplomatic and trade events is seen as the main reason the originally scheduled announcement on the Korea-US investment has been delayed.