The South Korean government is scrambling to manage mounting friction with the United States, as disputes over Coupang and restrictions on intelligence sharing regarding North Korea continue to surface. Seoul's principle-based explanations, including that sanctions against Coupang followed due legal process, have failed to persuade Washington. The government is reviewing measures to specify the target of its first major U.S. investment, viewing it as a potential breakthrough for resolving bilateral issues, sources said.
According to diplomatic sources on Wednesday, the government believes that concretizing its U.S. investment plans is necessary to dispel the string of issues that have emerged between the two countries, including the Coupang matter and restrictions on North Korea-related intelligence sharing. Until now, Seoul has focused on explaining its principles whenever friction arose with Washington, but has concluded that such efforts have proven insufficient to persuade the U.S.
The South Korean government has argued in response to complaints from the U.S. administration and Congress over the Coupang issue that "sanctions against Coupang do not constitute discrimination against American companies but were imposed in accordance with due legal process." Nevertheless, 54 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter on the 21st of this month to Kang Kyung-wha, Korea's ambassador to the U.S., demanding that Seoul "stop discriminating against American companies." A similar pattern emerged in the "classified information leak" controversy triggered by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks about North Korean nuclear facilities in Kusong. The Unification Ministry explained that Kusong is an already-known North Korean nuclear facility and therefore no classified information had been leaked, but the U.S. has continued its measures restricting intelligence sharing on North Korea.
The government views these frictions as already disrupting ongoing security negotiations with the U.S. covering the introduction of a nuclear-powered submarine and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. The U.S. delegation had initially been expected to visit Korea as early as the end of February, but more than two months later there is still no word. Wi Sung-lac, director of the National Security Office, recently acknowledged that "it is true that the Coupang issue is having an impact."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reportedly believes that concretizing the U.S. investment plan could substantially resolve the accumulated negative factors. The thinking is that offering a tangible carrot to the Donald Trump administration, which places national interest as its top priority, will prompt the U.S. to adopt a more favorable stance. Through last year's tariff negotiations, Korea agreed to invest $350 billion in the U.S., but the first investment destination has yet to be determined.
