Prime Minister Kim Min-seok will meet with top US officials to discuss pending issues in Washington and New York on a five-day trip starting Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Kim’s office, however, did not elaborate on those officials or the topics of discussion.
It marks Kim’s first trip to the US as prime minister.
It will also be the first time the South Korean prime minister has formally visited the US since South Korea’s democratization in 1987. The late Lho Shin-young was the last South Korean prime minister to visit the US in 1985, when South Korea was under the military rule of Chun Doo-hwan.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Kim is set to hold talks with undisclosed officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration. The liberal prime minister is also planning to meet undisclosed members of the US House of Representatives and overseas Koreans in the US.
Kim’s visit will contribute to the continued development of the relationship between Seoul and Washington, his office said.
Kim’s office did not elaborate further on who Kim was expected to meet and what the topics of discussion would be, citing confidentiality of the matter. It added that Kim would give a briefing about the outcome of the visit later.
There has been media speculation that Kim is arranging talks with US Vice President JD Vance. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to confirm.
Kim and Vance have not officially met. Kim did not accompany President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to Washington for a summit with Trump in August. On the other hand, Vance did not join the US delegation to South Korea when Lee received Trump in October on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
Kim’s visit comes three months after South Korea and the US unveiled a joint fact sheet of their trade and security deal, while uncertainties persist.
For example, the joint fact sheet states that South Korean semiconductor firms will be subject to tariff conditions that are “no less favorable than” their competitors under the most-favored-nation treatment.
However, the White House has recently approved a 25 percent tariff on artificial intelligence chips imported into the United States and reexported to third countries. The Trump administration has also hinted at imposing up to a 100 percent tariff on memory chips from companies that do not build a memory chip plant in the US, apparently targeting memory semiconductor powerhouses like South Korea.
Meanwhile, Seoul and Washington have been arranging talks over easing South Korea’s nuclear restrictions in accordance with the bilateral 123 Agreement, as South Korea seeks US approval to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel for civil purposes.
Meanwhile, Trump has invited leaders of countries, including South Korea, to join its proposed “Board of Peace” initiative to reconstruct war-ravaged regions of Gaza. South Korea has yet to confirm its intention to join.
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