President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea made a high-profile appearance at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on September 25, 2025, hosting the Korea Investment Summit in a bid to woo global investors and redefine his country’s economic standing on the world stage. The event, which saw Lee ring the opening bell at 9:30 a.m., marked the culmination of his trip to the United States, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly and engaged in a whirlwind of economic diplomacy aimed at turning what’s long been seen as a “Korea discount” into a coveted “Korea premium.”
Lee’s message to the assembled financial titans was clear: South Korea is open for business, but it will not compromise its economic stability for the sake of foreign capital. According to Yonhap News Agency, the summit brought together heavyweights from both sides of the Pacific. On the American side, attendees included Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs’ Marc Nachmann, and Mary Callahan Erdoes from JPMorgan Chase. Korean corporate leaders such as SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and top government officials, including Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol, joined the discussions, underscoring the event’s significance for South Korea’s financial future.
Lee’s efforts in New York were part of a broader campaign to strengthen South Korea’s global investment profile. On September 22, he met with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to sign a memorandum of understanding focused on building artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in Seoul, part of Lee’s ambition to establish the city as Asia’s AI hub. The partnership, as detailed by Yonhap, signals South Korea’s intent to lead in next-generation technologies while attracting long-term foreign investment.
Yet, the summit and Lee’s diplomatic push came against a backdrop of complex and sometimes fraught negotiations with the United States. On September 24, Lee sat down with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss ongoing tariff talks and the structure of a massive US$350 billion investment package that South Korea pledged in July. According to The Hankyoreh, Lee emphasized the need for “commercial rationality” in the deal, insisting that the terms must benefit both countries and not threaten South Korea’s economic stability. “South Korea’s investment in the US must be grounded in economic and commercial rationality, and the investment plan must contain terms that South Korea will be able to handle,” Lee stated during the meeting, as reported by his chief policy secretary, Kim Yong-beom.
The talks with Bessent were hailed as a “major watershed” in the ongoing negotiations, with Kim Yong-beom describing the meeting as “very significant.” Lee personally explained his concerns about the risk of a foreign currency crisis if such a large outflow of capital were to occur without proper safeguards—a concern rooted in South Korea’s experience during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. The structure of the US$350 billion investment fund remains a sticking point, with South Korea expecting most of the sum to be structured as loans, while the U.S. side appears to favor more direct, equity-based investment. “There have been some difficulties because the negotiations are taking place in a different manner than typical negotiations,” Kim explained, adding that South Korea would only sign an agreement when the terms align with its national interests and commercial reciprocity is ensured.
Complicating matters further are unresolved visa and currency swap issues that threaten to derail Korean corporate investments in the United States. In a Bloomberg interview on September 24, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok warned that “without resolving the visa issue, meaningful progress remains virtually impossible.” His comments came in the wake of a widely publicized incident earlier in September when hundreds of Korean workers were detained during a raid at a Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution battery plant under construction in Georgia. Although the workers were released and returned home within a week, the episode has rattled the Korean public and led to widespread reluctance among workers to return to the U.S. without firm safety assurances.
“Although the projects (in the US) have not been entirely halted or formally placed on hold, it will be very difficult for a large number of workers to enter or reenter the US until this problem is resolved,” Kim told Bloomberg, referencing the ongoing visa dispute. The incident, which saw images of shackled workers circulate widely in South Korea, has cast a shadow over the US$350 billion investment fund and raised questions about the safety of Korean nationals working abroad.
The financial stakes are enormous. The investment pledge with Washington amounts to more than 70% of South Korea’s foreign reserves, and both Lee and Kim have warned that a currency swap agreement with the U.S. is essential to avoid a foreign exchange crisis. As Lee told Reuters, “a currency swap agreement is needed to avoid a negative impact on Korea’s foreign exchange market—a crisis similar to what Korea experienced in 1997 during the Asian Financial Crisis—if the nation tries to meet all the US demands.”
Negotiations over the investment package remain challenging, with Washington reportedly pressing for cash commitments on a scale comparable to Japan’s US$550 billion pledge. Kim Min-seok noted that any deal imposing a significant fiscal burden on South Korea may require parliamentary approval, reflecting the deep public and political sensitivities surrounding the issue. “There’s the feeling that it’s difficult for us to accept that, not just the negotiating team but also among the public,” Kim remarked, highlighting the widespread apprehension in South Korea about the potential consequences of the agreement.
Amid these economic and diplomatic maneuvers, South Korea is also signaling a shift in its defense posture. Kim Min-seok revealed that the country plans to raise its defense spending to 3.5% of GDP over the next decade, up from the current 2.32%. This move is part of a broader push to strengthen South Korea’s independent national defense, even as it maintains close security ties with the United States.
As Lee’s trip drew to a close, the stakes for South Korea’s economic future remained high. The president’s efforts to attract global investment, secure favorable terms for the US$350 billion package, and resolve thorny issues around visas and currency swaps have underscored both the opportunities and risks facing the country as it seeks to cement its place in the global economy. With negotiations ongoing and public scrutiny intense, the coming months will be critical in determining whether Lee’s vision of a “Korea premium” can be realized, or whether old anxieties about financial instability and diplomatic friction will return to haunt Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
For now, South Korea stands at a crossroads, seeking to balance ambition with caution as it navigates the demands of global investors, the realities of international diplomacy, and the expectations of its own citizens.
