Lutnick says Korea to invest over $50B in Alaska LNG, $120B in U.S. nuclear power plants

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Korea had committed to invest over $50 billion in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska and $120 billion in eight nuclear power plants in the United States.

"A $120 billion [will go] to build eight gigantic nuclear power plants and they are going to go across the United States," Lutnick said during a briefing by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, before touting an investment of "just over $50 billion" in the Alaska LNG project. He named Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky as locations for the nuclear reactors.

The Korean government has yet to confirm Lutnick’s remarks.

If the U.S. commerce secretary’s claims prove true, the investments would add to Korea’s $22.3 billion investment in a gas-fired power plant in Encinal, Texas, formally announced as the first project under its U.S. investment pledge.

Lutnick’s remarks follow protracted negotiations between Seoul and Washington over several energy investment projects under the trade agreement that committed Korea to investing $350 billion in the United States — $150 billion for the shipbuilding sector and the remainder for strategic investments — in return for lower U.S. tariffs on Korean goods.

U.S. President Donald Trump has highlighted the investment plans as he underscores his economic achievements ahead of the November midterm elections amid public concerns over high energy prices and deepening economic uncertainties in the wake of the monthslong war with Iran.

The LNG project involves the construction of a 1,298-kilometer (806-mile)-long pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope, which has massive proven natural gas reserves, to southern Alaska for shipment to Asia.

BY YONHAP, PARK EUN-JEE [[email protected]]