By Jihoon Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said on Tuesday he would seek a mutually beneficial trade deal when he meets U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for talks this week, just days before an August 1 deadline expires to avoid punishing tariffs.
Speaking at the airport before departing for Washington, Koo said he would propose at Thursday’s meeting a “programme” South Korea had prepared and consult on areas where they could cooperate in the mid-to-long term, such as shipbuilding.
South Korea’s Hanwha Group, parent of shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, had submitted a major investment plan to government officials, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The plan included expanding its recently acquired Philly Shipyard in the state of Pennsylvania and involved Hanwha Group and some of its affiliates, said the sources, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Hanwha Group’s Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan also flew to Washington to support trade negotiations, local media reported.
Seoul officials are scrambling in an all-out push to clinch a trade deal ahead of the August 1 deadline to remove or reduce tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump against the country’s key industrial exports to the United States.
Koo’s plan to travel to Washington last week for talks with Bessent was postponed due to the U.S. treasury chief’s scheduling conflict.
“Treasury Secretary Bessent holds the important position of overseeing trade negotiations in the Trump administration,” Koo said in brief remarks to reporters.
“We will make the best effort to derive an agreement based on our national interest that would allow South Korea and the United States to co-exist,” he said.
Koo said he would be joining Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo who have been holding talks in Washington with U.S. officials including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for an “all-out response.”
Lutnick said in an interview with Fox News on Monday that South Korean officials had flown to Scotland to meet with him.
“Think of how much they really, really want to get a deal done,” he said.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will also visit Washington this week for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following a visit to Japan on Tuesday to meet his counterpart.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee, Jack Kim, Joyce Lee, Hyunjoo Jin and Ju-min ParkEditing by Ed Davies)
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