The Korean government will attend an energy conference to be held in early next month in Anchorage, Alaska. This decision is seen as considering the impact on tariff negotiations between South Korea and the United States and the interest from the U.S. side in the Alaska LNG project.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 29th, Deputy Minister Lee Ho-hyun plans to attend the '4th Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference' to be held on June 3 in Anchorage, Alaska. The deputy minister will participate as a representative of South Korea in a roundtable hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), and plans to directly check on the progress of the Alaska LNG project.
Earlier, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy invited officials from the governments of South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan to the event. The state of Alaska aims to introduce sustainable energy industries utilizing resources such as wind, solar, and hydro power, along with the large LNG project currently underway at this conference.
This event will also see attendance from senior officials of the U.S. federal government, including Interior Minister Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michelle Dean. This invitation has been analyzed as having the nature of pressuring for investment attraction from the U.S. side.
The government was reportedly deliberating whether to attend the event, but it was decided to attend as it deemed it necessary to directly collect information related to the Alaska LNG project and closely assess its viability.
The Alaska LNG project is a large-scale project worth $44 billion that involves developing a gas field in the Arctic Circle, constructing a pipeline approximately 1,300 kilometers long to southern Alaska, and then liquefying it for export to Asian countries. It was first proposed over a decade ago, but the business viability has been assessed as low due to the enormous investment costs.
However, the Trump administration is rekindling its efforts on the development of the Alaska LNG project. Previously, President Trump signed an executive order for Alaska energy development, and Governor Dunleavy has actively engaged in attracting investments from South Korea and Japan.