US Demands South Korean Involvement in High-Risk Alaska LNG Project
The US government is reportedly demanding South Korea's participation in the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project as part of its investment projects in the United States.
According to a recent briefing by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the possibility of participating in the Alaska LNG project was discussed, but no specific decision has been made. The US government is pushing hard for South Korean involvement, citing President Trump's core national task of extracting natural gas from Alaska's North Slope.
The project involves transporting the gas via a 1,300-kilometer pipeline to an area near Anchorage and then liquefying it for supply to consumer markets. However, assessments indicate that securing profitability remains opaque, making it difficult to guarantee commercial rationality.
South Korea had pledged $350 billion in investments in the US, including $150 billion in shipbuilding and $200 billion in strategic investments, in exchange for lowering tariffs from 25% to 15%. The government is currently negotiating with the US to ensure that the actual execution scale does not exceed the limits of the US investment fund.