Citigroup: It is unlikely that the $350 billion US investment fund in South Korea will be finalized in the short term.

Citigroup believes that the $350 billion US investment fund in South Korea is unlikely to be finalized quickly in the short term, despite negotiations between the US and South Korea continuing. Citigroup's chief economist in South Korea, Jin-Wook Kim, pointed out that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently stated that South Korea must either accept the bilateral trade agreement reached in July or pay tariffs. He said in a report that due to increasing domestic political pressure surrounding the investment agreement negotiations, the current South Korean government is highly unlikely to accept US-leaning conditions. He also added that financing a large-scale investment in the US could bring risks of oversupply of won-denominated bonds and depreciation of the Korean won.