President Lee warns Korea's $350B investment deal in U.S. could cause financial crisis
Published: 22 Sep. 2025, 10:29
Updated: 22 Sep. 2025, 14:29
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a senior aides' meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Sept. 18. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/22/b1cd9080-93a0-4e42-bd7d-953b7e0213ae.jpg)
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a senior aides' meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Sept. 18. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]
President Lee Jae Myung warned that complying with U.S. demands regarding a $350 billion investment deal could put Korea at risk of a financial crisis similar to the one it faced in 1997, Reuters reported Sunday.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, President Lee said that a formal agreement between Korea and the United States had yet to be finalized due to differing views on how the investment should be structured.
"Without a currency swap, if we were to withdraw $350 billion in the manner that the United States is demanding and to invest this all in cash in the United States, Korea would face a situation as it had in the Asian financial crisis," Lee told Reuters in Korean through a translator.
Regarding the possibility of negotiations breaking down, Lee said he believed the two countries, bound by a "blood alliance," could maintain at least a minimum level of rationality, and emphasized his commitment to resolving the matter as quickly as possible.
Addressing the recent immigration raid at a construction site for a battery plant jointly built by LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group in Georgia earlier this month, Lee said Koreans “were naturally angered by the ‘harsh’ treatment of the workers" and warned that the incident could lead companies becoming "wary of investing in the United States," according to the Reuters report.
However, Lee also welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to allow Korean workers to stay in the country. The raid was the result of "overzealous law enforcement" instead of being personally directed by Trump, according to Lee.
"I do not believe this was intentional, and the United States has apologized for this incident, and we have agreed to seek reasonable measures in this regard and we are working on them," he said.
![U.S. President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Korean President Lee Jae Myung upon his arrival at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/22/11776547-4cd5-4f3f-b907-d6d541bf5e31.jpg)
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Korean President Lee Jae Myung upon his arrival at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25. [AP/YONHAP]
On inter-Korean relations, Lee said that prospects for dialogue with Pyongyang were “not optimistic” following the North’s rejection of recent overtures, according to Reuters. He also expressed concern over the growing confrontational stance between the United States, South Korea and Japan on one side, and China, Russia and North Korea on the other.
"This is a very dangerous situation for South Korea, and we must find an exit ramp out of the escalating military tensions," Lee said. "We must find a way for peaceful coexistence."
Separately, in an interview with the BBC aired Sunday, Lee said that freezing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program could serve as “an interim emergency measure” and “a feasible, realistic alternative” to denuclearization.
Lee added that if President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were to agree to a freeze on nuclear weapons production rather than complete denuclearization, it would be acceptable.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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