South Korea Moves to Implement Law Creating U.S.-Focused Investment Fund Up to $350B
The government in Seoul said it will promptly begin follow-up steps to implement the Special Act for the Management of Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment. The law, once transmitted to the National Assembly and promulgated, will take effect three months after promulgation. An establishment committee for the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation will be formed immediately after promulgation to oversee the plan to mobilize up to about $350 billion in U.S. investments. The corporation will manage the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Fund and will be funded by 2 trillion won in government capital.
The fund will be sourced through government contributions, foreign currency assets entrusted to the Bank of Korea and the Foreign Exchange Stabilization Fund, and the issuance of government-guaranteed bonds. The corporation will operate under a governance structure consisting of an Operating Committee, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, and a Project Management Committee, chaired by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, which will review and approve projects.
The government said it will move quickly on subordinate legislation needed to implement the law and will begin pre-screening candidate U.S. investment projects before the law takes effect. Final investment decisions and disbursements will be made only after evaluating the projects’ commercial viability and the broader financial environment, including conditions in foreign exchange markets.
Officials cited bipartisan support for the plan and described it as a means to reduce uncertainty for Korean companies amid broader regional tensions. They said the framework would reaffirm trust in Korea-U.S. cooperation and help Korean firms participate in global value chains and maintain competitiveness.
The minister overseeing industry and trade added that maintaining stable Korea-U.S. tariff practices is essential to strengthening strategic cooperation, and that Seoul will actively engage with Washington to leverage the framework for expanding Korean firms’ access to the U.S. market and for supply-chain collaboration.
Context for international readers: the initiative represents a high-level, state-backed effort to coordinate large-scale investment activity in the United States, guided by a dedicated fund and governance structure. It underscores South Korea’s approach to allied economic security, technology collaboration, and resilient supply chains—areas of growing importance to U.S. policy, markets, and global manufacturing networks. Institutional details include the Bank of Korea and the Foreign Exchange Stabilization Fund as asset sources, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as the policy lead for industrial collaboration.