On February 28th, Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok had a call with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to exchange views on the bilateral economic relationship. During the meeting, they reaffirmed the strong ROK-U.S. alliance and discussed cooperation measures in the areas of economy, trade, security, and finance with the U.S. new administration.

Acting President Choi emphasized the Korean economy's strong resilience, pointing out that the robust economic system and government's stable operation of state affairs have quickly mitigated volatility in the financial and foreign exchange markets. He spoke of the international community’s favorable view of the Korean economy and the government’s swift measures to ensure stability, including the recent decision to keep Korea’s sovereign credit rating unchanged.

A wide range of issues were covered during the call such as the Trump Administration’s tariff measures, Korea’s planned investments in the U.S. and foreign exchange policy. Acting President Choi requested that Korean businesses’ contribution to the U.S. economy be taken into consideration in deciding on the new U.S. administration’s policies including reciprocal tariffs.

Acting President Choi affirmed the importance of close ROK-U.S. collaboration on economic and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, and stressed the importance of continuing the long-standing alliance relationship between  Korea and the U.S. Acting President Choi affirmed the importance of trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan.

The Korean government will continue to consult closely with the U.S. and strengthen cooperative ties, going forward.

For more details, please refer to the attached files.