S. Korea wires first $2.4b US investment tranche immediately after Trump announcement

South Korea wired $2.4 billion to the United States on Thursday as its first installment under a major bilateral investment agreement, officials confirmed.

A senior government official said the transfer was completed after US President Donald Trump announced South Korea's US investment plan on Sept. 30 (local time) — Thursday morning Korean Standard Time. "Following President Trump's announcement of South Korea's investment plan in the United States on the afternoon of Sept. 30 US time, we remitted the first $2.4 billion in US-bound investment," the official said.

Under the operating agreement implementing the Korea-US Strategic Investment MOU announced Thursday, US-bound investments will be managed through special purpose vehicles, with South Korea providing the capital for each project. Under tariff negotiations concluded last year, South Korea plans to invest a total of $200 billion in the United States. The investment structure groups multiple projects under a single umbrella: an integrated SPC at the top manages overall financing and profit distribution, while individual projects are carried out by project-level SPCs wholly owned by the integrated entity.

A key concern for the government was how to protect investors. The two countries agreed to adopt a "risk pooling" arrangement, under which losses from any individual project are offset by profits from others.

The Lee Jae-myung administration earlier agreed with the United States to maintain a 50-50 profit-sharing ratio across all projects until both the principal and interest on the investment are fully recovered. Once the investment is recouped, the US side will receive 90 percent of subsequent profits.

Under the risk pooling mechanism, even if individual projects underperform, the 50-50 split is maintained by aggregating returns across all projects until the investment is recovered. If some projects post losses or weaker returns, profits from other projects cover the shortfall — a safeguard designed to prioritize the recovery of South Korea's investment.

South Korea also agreed to cooperate in remitting a $10 billion advance payment by the end of this year for Project No. 2 — the construction of eight nuclear power plants in the United States — subject to fulfillment of all applicable domestic legal requirements. The government said the advance is primarily intended to secure long-lead-time items early.