President Lee: "Alaska LNG Discussions Based on Commercial Viability and Legal Procedures... Profit-Sharing Set at 5:5"

"Commercial Viability Must Also Be Guaranteed for Each Nuclear Power Plant"

President Lee Jae-myung stated on the 1st, "Among the US-announced investment projects, we have decided to start working-level consultations on the Alaska project, on the condition that its commercial viability is confirmed and it complies with the legal procedures of the Republic of Korea."

On the same day, President Lee made this announcement on X (formerly Twitter) regarding the results of the investment negotiations with the United States. He also addressed potential investments in American nuclear power plants, stating, "Their commercial viability must also be assured for each individual plant project."

President Lee Jae-myung is delivering a commemorative speech at the 78th Armed Forces Day ceremony held at Gyeryongdae in Chungnam on October 1, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News.

Previously, on September 30 (local time), US President Donald Trump announced that Korea would invest more than 50 billion dollars in the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and participate in the construction of eight large-scale nuclear power plants.

However, the Korean government has thus far only finalized the Texas Encinal gas combined-cycle power plant project, valued at 22.3 billion dollars, as the first project, while the Alaska and nuclear power plant projects remain subjects for future negotiation.

President Lee explained, "Profit distribution will be 5:5 until principal and interest are repaid, and 9:1 after repayment is complete. In order to ensure both the minimization of investment losses and the guarantee of full repayment, the profit sharing for all investment projects—even for those where principal and interest have been repaid—will remain at 5:5 until all projects have recouped their initial investment." This implies that, throughout the negotiations, more favorable profit-sharing terms for Korea were established compared to previous agreements.

Meanwhile, President Lee commented, "Despite the challenges, the negotiation team has done its utmost. I would like to ask for your support for Minister Kim Jeonggwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and for the Office of Trade Negotiations for delivering such positive results."

The announcement of the US investment project comes approximately 11 months after President Lee and President Trump reached an agreement at the Korea-US summit held in Gyeongju.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.