US President Donald Trump flips through pages of notes as he announces South Korea's investment plans in the United States from the Oval Office on Wednesday (local time). [AP]
US President Donald Trump flips through pages of notes as he announces South Korea's investment plans in the United States from the Oval Office on Wednesday (local time). [AP]

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) presented South Korea's investment in the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project as a foregone conclusion — but official US government documents contain no definitive language confirming that the two countries have agreed to move forward with the project. The gap between Trump's sweeping claims of job creation and a historic milestone for American energy and the more cautious wording in official records has led some analysts to say the announcement was electioneering aimed at winning over Alaska voters ahead of midterm elections.

According to a fact sheet on the Korea-US strategic investment project released by the US Department of Commerce on Wednesday (local time), the two countries agreed to "commence working on the Alaska LNG project, subject to commercial viability under the strategic investment MOU and the fulfillment of all applicable domestic legal requirements."

That language mirrors the South Korean government's own fact sheet. Seoul's Korean-language version states that the two sides agreed to "commence a review of the Alaska LNG project," subject to the same conditions.

Both the South Korean and US fact sheets make clear that Korea's participation in the Alaska LNG project is not finalized — framing it as conditional cooperation contingent on commercial viability and compliance with domestic law, and describing it as a preliminary stage of review rather than a commitment to proceed.

As in Seoul's announcement, the US Commerce Department fact sheet states that the United States will favorably support the participation of Korean companies and suppliers in the project. It also includes a provision that the US will endeavor, to the extent possible, to ensure South Korea can secure purchase agreements for Alaska LNG produced through the project at "economically viable prices."

The tone of the official US documents stands in sharp contrast to what Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that day. Trump, while announcing South Korea's $200 billion investment plan in the United States, included the Alaska LNG project and declared that it alone "will be one of the largest energy projects in the history of the United States," saying Korean investment money would flow into the venture.

Trump said the Alaska LNG project would "create 12,000 construction jobs and 1,000 operational jobs," emphasizing the economic benefits as though the project's execution were already assured. Lutnick, speaking after Trump, went further — saying South Korea would invest "more than $50 billion" in the Alaska LNG project and putting a specific dollar figure to the commitment.

After the announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social account that "the United States and Korea have agreed to commence working together on a $50 billion Alaska LNG project." He also claimed he had "met with Korean President Lee Jae Myung in New York and agreed to commence $200 billion in new investment into the United States."

Some analysts say Trump and Lutnick's announcements that day were designed to court voters in Alaska, a competitive battleground in the midterm elections. Lutnick also named specific states — Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky — as locations for eight nuclear power plants to be built as part of another South Korean investment project in the US. However, according to a briefing by Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan that day, those states are merely ones that have expressed interest in hosting nuclear plants — meaning the construction sites have not yet been finalized either.


kate01@heraldcorp.com