Park Jung-sung, deputy minister for trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy [The Herald Business DB]
Park Jung-sung, deputy minister for trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy [The Herald Business DB]

The government is fast-tracking the appointment of Park Jung-sung, deputy minister for trade, to succeed Yeo Han-koo as chief trade negotiator at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The move comes as South Korea and the United States enter a final round of coordination over the first strategic investment project, with Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan managing the response on the ground in Washington.

According to political and government sources Wednesday, the vetting process to formally appoint Park to the vacant post of trade negotiation chief has already begun.

Park passed the 40th class of the civil service examination in the trade track. He holds a degree in economics from Seoul National University and a law degree from a US law school, and is licensed to practice law in New York and New Jersey. If appointed, Park would complete an unusual trio: all three of the ministry's political appointees — Minister Kim Jung-kwan, Vice Minister Moon Shin-hak and Park himself — would be Seoul National University economics graduates.

Park's career has spanned trade, diplomacy and industry. After entering public service, he served as head of the free trade agreement team at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, director of trade and development at the presidential G20 Summit Preparatory Committee, economic counselor at the South Korean Embassy in Malaysia, and an administrative official in the presidential secretariat's industry, trade and energy office. He later served as director general for trade policy coordination and for management support at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and as director for industry, science and small-business policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

Park became the first official from the ministry to serve as deputy ambassador to the World Trade Organization. Since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration, he has moved steadily upward — from director general for trade and investment to deputy minister for trade, and now to the threshold of the top trade negotiator post.

However, some within the ministry question whether Park is well-suited for the role's core function of negotiating non-tariff barriers. Over the past several months, he has accompanied Minister Kim on every US trip in a chief-of-staff capacity, focusing heavily on investment and Commerce Department issues. Internally, there is also a view that — unlike his predecessor Yeo Han-koo — Park is unlikely to assert an independent voice in negotiations.

Minister Kim, currently on a US visit, met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday and Tuesday to discuss South Korea's strategic investment projects. The meetings came roughly three weeks after the two sides last met in July.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Kim visited Washington and met with senior US administration officials to discuss major bilateral industrial and trade issues, including the strategic investment projects. Following the meeting with Secretary Lutnick, Kim met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to discuss bilateral trade issues including the Section 301 investigation, the ministry said.

Last year, South Korea agreed to a $350 billion investment package in US-Korea tariff negotiations, comprising $200 billion in strategic investment and $150 billion in shipbuilding investment. The two sides are currently in detailed negotiations to select the first investment project.

The United States last month also invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act to impose a 12.5 percent "forced labor tariff" on South Korea, and is considering levying additional "overcapacity tariffs."

The ministry said Kim is also scheduled to meet with Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to assess follow-up measures related to President Donald Trump's recently announced plan to rebuild the US shipbuilding industrial base and to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral shipbuilding cooperation. "We plan to actively work to ensure that the trade relationship between South Korea and the United States remains stable and that the balance of benefits achieved through last year's tariff agreement is maintained," the ministry said.


oskymoon@heraldcorp.com