Anchor: U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on television and suggested South Korea is under heavy pressure to make a deal since the recent U.S.-Japan trade negotiations. After the media interview, Lutnick held a meeting with South Korea’s minister of trade, industry and energy as well as the nation’s trade chief. 
Kim Bum-soo has the latest.  

Report: U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed confidence in dealing with South Korean officials in the tariff negotiations. 

[Sound bite: CNBC interview with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick]

During an interview with CNBC on Thursday, the commerce secretary said that like Europe, South Korea now wants to make a deal. 

The secretary said, speaking figuratively, that “you could hear the expletives out of Korea when they read the Japanese deal” because the South Korean and Japanese negotiators stared at each other.

After flaunting the upper hand his country has over South Korea thanks to the U.S.-Japan negotiations, Lutnick sat down with Seoul’s Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan and his trade chief, Yeo Han-koo, for an hour and 20 minutes.

But South Korean officials are refusing to reveal what was discussed at the meeting until the two sides reach an accord. 

U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that his government will charge a 15 percent tariff on Japanese imports and Japan will invest 550 billion dollars in the U.S.

That 15 percent reciprocal rate will also apply to Japanese cars and parts, putting the island nation at an advantage over other major auto exporters like South Korea, which faces a 25 percent duty.

In the wake of the cancellation of the two-plus-two talks between the two sides’ trade and finance officials, Seoul’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is expected to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on the eve of the deadline next week.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.