S. Korea's chief trade negotiator heads to Washington amid looming tariff deadline

On the trade front.

South Korea's top trade delegate is heading back to the U.S for talks ahead of next week's deadline on the pause in country-specific tariffs.

Our Moon Ji-young covers the upcoming trip.

With just days left before the temporary halt on tariffs expires,

South Korea's chief trade negotiator, Yeo Han-koo , is making his second visit to the United States within a week for high-level trade negotiations.

He is set to meet with U.S. officials, including U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in Washington this weekend.

This marks a swift follow-up to his previous talks last week, during which he emphasized Seoul's commitment to "good-faith" trade discussions with the Trump administration.

Speaking at a plenary session of the National Assembly on Friday, Yeo indicated that he would actively consider requesting an extension from the U.S. side, depending on the progress of the negotiations.

He further articulated South Korea's negotiating stance:

"We will conduct negotiations pragmatically, prioritizing national interests, with the aim of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement between South Korea and the U.S. Our goal is to pursue a complete exemption from reciprocal tariffs and all product-specific tariffs, ensuring that we are at least not disadvantaged compared to competitor nations. Furthermore, in the industrial and energy sectors, we will establish a strategic cooperative relationship between our two countries."

This comes amid growing tariff pressure from the U.S.

"We're going to start sending letters out to various countries, starting tomorrow. We'll probably have 10 or 12 go out tomorrow. And over the next few days, I think by the ninth, they'll be fully covered and they'll range in value from maybe 60 or 70% tariffs to 10 and 20% tariffs."

Yeo stated that high-level and working-level negotiations would be conducted intensively to swiftly conclude the talks, thereby leaving open the possibility of additional negotiations.

Moon Ji-young, Arirang News.