hankyoreh

National security adviser Wi Sung-lac gives a press briefing on developments in foreign affairs at the presidential office in Yongsan on Sept. 12, 2025. (pool photo)

The war of nerves between Seoul and Washington is ramping up as the US adds demands for up-front cash and an even greater sum in connection with a fund of US$350 billion that South Korea agreed to establish for investment in the US.

In Korea, proponents of negotiation appear to be losing ground as many in and around the Lee Jae Myung administration call for a hard-line approach to Washington’s immoderate demands.

Some are predicting a watershed in the negotiations could come in late October with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, which US President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend. The situation has created a deepening quandary for the presidential office as it must carry on negotiations with the US while simultaneously attempting to win over opponents internally.

Responding to Trump’s statements demanding US$350 billion up front from South Korea, national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said in an interview with the Hankyoreh on Sunday that it was “not a level that we can realistically handle.”

“We are continuing to present alternatives as we negotiate,” he added.

During a meeting with White House reporters on Thursday, Trump claimed that he was receiving US$350 billion “up front” from South Korea. On the same day, The Wall Street Journal reported that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick had demanded additional US funding investments from South Korea beyond the US$350 billion.

With the US demands exceeding predictions, even some within the ruling Democratic Party have been calling for a firm response.

Former Minister of Unification Jeong Se-hyun, who has been advising Lee on foreign affairs and national security strategy, said at a National Assembly seminar that there were “people around the president who think there’s nothing to be done if the US doesn’t like it.”

Amid calls for replacing the administration’s foreign affairs and national security lineup, the Innovation Conference for More Democracy, a peripheral pro-Lee group within the Democratic Party, issued a statement in which it sternly denounced the US administration for “damaging national sovereignty with its ruthless tariff negotiations.”

For the presidential office, the frictions within the ruling party are poised to become a burden. But for now, it remains firm in its position that there is no other path besides negotiations.

“Since Trump began applying tariff pressures, there hasn’t been a single country anywhere in the world that has opted for the tariffs without negotiation,” Wi observed.

“Even India, which has a low proportion of trade with the US, has been working to negotiate a deal,” he added.

“We need to carry on the negotiations with a position that has been carefully coordinated under the president’s leadership,” he stressed.

The presidential office is predicting the last major hurdle in the tariff negotiations will come in late October at the APEC summit in Gyeongju, where Lee and Trump are expected to hold a second summit. Its position is that in the month remaining, Seoul needs to hang tough in the negotiations and work to ensure that South Korea’s stance is reflected as much as possible in the outcome.

“Our strategy is to generate more favorable opinion with the US rather than trying to refute the arguments of hard-liners like Lutnick,” one senior official in the presidential office said.

On Saturday, Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo spoke to reporters on his way home from a meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at an ASEAN economic ministers’ meeting.

“We emphasized that [a South Korean fund for US investment] only aligns with both sides’ national interest when it is operated in a feasible way that guarantees commercial rationality,” he stressed.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun, who met with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau in New York on Friday, was quoted by his ministry as having received a response from Landau that he would “work to ensure that South Korea’s position is appropriately considered internally.”

By Um Ji-won, staff reporter; Park Min-hee, staff reporter; Lee Jae-ho, staff reporter

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