Lee Hyung-il says Alaska LNG project still in early review; first $2.4B investment wired to US

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il said Tuesday that South Korea's participation in the $54 billion Alaska LNG development project remains in its earliest stages of review, while confirming that the first installment of $2.4 billion under a Korea-US investment agreement was wired to the United States on Thursday.

Lee made the remarks at a national audit session of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee, where People Power Party lawmaker Lim Yi-ja asked whether $2.4 billion had been transferred to the US on Thursday, following the joint release of fact sheets by the two countries on Wednesday and Thursday. Lee replied, "Yes."

Earlier, South Korea and the United States confirmed Thursday that the first project under their investment agreement would be "Project Star" — the construction and operation of a 6.472 GW gas combined-cycle power plant for AI data centers in Encinal, Texas.

The total project cost is approximately $22.3 billion, meaning the initial transfer amounted to just over 10 percent of that sum.

Lawmaker Lim also questioned whether the National Assembly had been properly consulted during the investment decision-making process. "If the project is deemed commercially viable, prior reporting suffices, but if it is not, National Assembly approval is required — and there was no discussion of this at all," she said.

Lee pushed back, saying the project had gone through all required National Assembly reporting procedures before being included in the fact sheet. Asked whether the Texas power plant project met the standard of commercial viability, he said, "I believe it does."

The hearing also saw exchanges over diverging messages from Seoul and Washington on "Project North," the $54 billion Alaska LNG development. When Lim pointed out that the two sides appeared to be sending different signals about the project, Lee rebuffed the characterization, saying, "We are speaking in accordance with what is in the fact sheet."

"Project North is at the stage of beginning review, and we still need to examine its commercial viability thoroughly," Lee said. "We plan to continue reviewing it in a direction that enhances commercial viability."