Hong Nam-ki Meets Yellen Directly to Convey "Concerns of Korean Companies on Semiconductor Information Sharing"

US-Korea Finance Ministers Bilateral Meeting

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Washington D.C. (USA) = Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] On the 14th (local time), Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, met with Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and conveyed the concerns of domestic companies regarding the U.S. government's request for semiconductor companies to provide information. This implied that it would be difficult to accept the U.S. government's demands as they are. With less than a month remaining until the U.S. side's deadline for data submission (November 8), behind-the-scenes dialogue efforts between the two countries are expected to continue.

Hong, who is visiting the U.S. to attend the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), directly met with Secretary Yellen on this day to convey these concerns, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Domestic semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are currently in an emergency situation as the U.S. government recently demanded the submission of confidential-level data such as sales and inventory. Since this issue is directly related not only to economic matters but also to national security, the government has also provided support, but no response from the U.S. side has been reported.

In addition, the finance ministers of the two countries discussed bilateral issues and cooperation measures including climate change, pandemic response, digital tax, global supply chains, and policies toward Iran.

Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Hong held a meeting with accompanying reporters and dismissed the introduction of the real estate ‘ceiling on new jeonse and monthly rent contracts’ and ‘standard rent’ by saying, "I think it is not easy." These measures were suggested as alternatives after the so-called ‘dual pricing’ problem arose, where jeonse prices differ by hundreds of millions of won for similar properties following the implementation of the lease protection law. However, the government plans to fundamentally exclude real estate measures based on ‘price regulation.’ Hong said, "Policies that regulate market prices need to be approached cautiously," adding, "We will clarify the direction by the end of next month and announce (supplementary measures) in December."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.