Vance says U.S., Korea still need to 'work out' details of Alaska gas project

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Monday that the United States and Korea still need to "work out" details of a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska, while expressing confidence that the project will ultimately move forward amid strong Asian demand for American gas.

"The pipeline is something that we really want to see happen and a lot of our Asian friends want to happen as well," Vance said, according to a White House pool report. "It's not just the Koreans. The Japanese would love to see this pipeline."

"So I think it's something that's going to happen," he said. "Obviously, you still got to work out some of the details and the South Koreans, you know, have spoken to that."

Vance said East Asian economies that have faced higher natural gas prices would benefit from increased U.S. gas supplies.

"When there's a demand for this stuff and there really is strong demand for American natural gas, I think we're going to be able to get it done," he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced Korea's U.S. investment projects under last year's bilateral trade agreement: the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Texas, eight large-scale nuclear power plants and the LNG project in Alaska.

Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, however, said the Alaska LNG project had not yet been finalized, stressing that it would need to review its commercial viability and other factors before making any investment decision.

Yonhap