Foreign Minister: "Difficult to Accept U.S. Proposal, Continue Tariff Negotiations"

[Financial News] Cho Hyun, Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated on the 16th that the U.S. government's unacceptable proposal is the reason why the Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations have not yet reached a final agreement. He explained that they are continuing negotiations without rushing to an agreement.
Minister Cho, in response to a question from Kim Geon, a member of the People Power Party, during the National Assembly plenary session on government questions, said, “The package proposed by the U.S. side is something we cannot accept, so we did not document it and continued negotiations to protect national interests.”
Despite criticism from People Power Party members for being irresponsible, Minister Cho emphasized, “If we had documented the U.S. proposal, it could have included content that would significantly wrinkle our economy,” and “The proposal from the U.S. side was difficult for our government to accept, and we are focusing on negotiating a win-win solution.”
However, Minister Cho was reserved about the details of the U.S. proposal.
Regarding concerns that the 350 billion dollars of the 450 billion dollars in U.S. investment could negatively impact the foreign exchange market due to its size, which amounts to 84% of foreign exchange reserves, Minister Cho said, “I cannot disclose all the details of the negotiations, but requesting an unlimited currency swap with the U.S. is one of the proposals we made.”
He further stated, “If the financial burden is large, it must be ratified by the National Assembly according to the constitution,” and “I have informed the U.S. side of this.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok also stated on the same day during government questioning that after the final conclusion of the U.S. investment negotiations, they would seek the consent of the National Assembly for the parts with significant financial burden.

uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter