SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

Seoul produces a measured diplomatic response. Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office) says Wednesday that the government will 'do its best to ensure that the balance of benefits under the existing Korea-US tariff agreement will not be compromised'. The Yonhap agency publishes the statement word for word. Korea Times documents the same message: South Korea, China and Japan are among the 54 economies subject to the higher 12.5% surcharge. A presidential office official specifies: 'The government will actively respond by submitting a written opinion and holding a public hearing, and comprehensively consider the USTR's ongoing Section 301 investigation into excess production.' This mention of the July public hearing is central — Seoul will play its institutional card within the American procedure. Korea Times also underlines that Asian competitors (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia) are at 10%, creating an immediate competitive asymmetry. The Commerce Ministry has run an intensive communication channel with Washington since March. A second Section 301 investigation on 'unfair trade practices' related to 'structural excess capacity' had been launched in parallel against Korea, China, Japan and 13 other economies. The South Korean perspective is doubly pragmatic: protect industry (35% of GDP), and avoid being publicly seen as the ally of an anti-American camp. No Korean editorial picks up the Chinese qualification of 'political mobilization'. Coverage is sober, technical, defensive.