US Sen. McCormick visits Seoul, says South Korea's US investment lags behind Japan's

US Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) visited South Korea on Thursday and said the country's investment in the United States has fallen behind Japan's, adding that committed funds need to start flowing "sooner rather than later." He also said Coupang Inc came up in his meetings with Korean officials.

Speaking to South Korean reporters at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, McCormick said he had told Korean officials directly that Japan had moved faster than South Korea on some investments and that Seoul needed to pick up the pace. He said Washington views South Korea's pledges to invest $150 billion in the US shipbuilding industry and $200 billion in other infrastructure very favorably, but stressed that "what matters now is actually moving forward with these investments." On the reasons for the delays, he called the issue "very complex, with a lot of work to be done on both sides," and said the funds needed to start flowing in practice sooner rather than later.

Asked about growing concerns over the state of the US-South Korea relationship, McCormick said one of the reasons for his visit was "to reaffirm the importance of the alliance," while acknowledging that "that doesn't mean the two countries won't have differences from time to time."

He said Coupang Inc was among the topics raised in his meetings with Korean officials, describing the context as wanting American technology companies to receive fair treatment. "We want US tech companies to be treated fairly and for trade to be conducted fairly," he said. "That includes not just Coupang but other companies as well."

McCormick was nonetheless upbeat about the overall relationship, calling the US-South Korea alliance "one of the best relationships the United States has" and saying that strong US ties with both South Korea and Japan are essential for security in Asia. On the question of South Korea acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, he said increases in South Korea's defense budget and naval capabilities were important, but added that he had not examined "the specific issues related to nuclear fuel" in detail.

Regarding reports that Donald Trump had asked South Korea to build 10 US naval vessels, McCormick said South Korea directly supplying ships — not just investing in the US shipbuilding industry — was "a fully viable option." He said he had seen firsthand some of South Korea's shipbuilding capabilities during his visit and that cooperation with South Korea could help accelerate the expansion of US shipbuilding capacity.

On the prospect of a North Korea-US summit, McCormick declined to offer a specific outlook but said Trump "strongly believes it is important to have open dialogue with anyone, and I support that." He cautioned, however, that North Korea's recent missile launches showed it must be treated as a genuine threat, and said both China's and North Korea's intentions warranted deep skepticism. McCormick visited South Korea after a stop in Japan, touring the Demilitarized Zone and Hanwha Ocean's Geoje shipyard on Wednesday. On Thursday, he met with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul, and held talks with executives from the defense and shipbuilding industries on areas of cooperation.