On the first evening of his visit to the United States, President Moon Jae-in attended the Korea-U.S. Business Summit co-hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C.

In his keynote address at the Business Summit dinner, President Moon stressed that his visit to the United States, the destination of his first overseas trip since taking office, was to reaffirm the ROK-U.S. alliance that has firmly continued for more than six decades and the importance of the bilateral economic partnership.

Addressing some 250 Korean and American business leaders, President Moon introduced the directions of his new Administration’s economic policies, including creating jobs, guaranteeing fair competition and promoting innovative growth. He went on to express the hope that his visit to the United States would provide an opportunity to reaffirm the strength of the ROK-U.S. alliance as well as elevate bilateral economic cooperation to the next level.

In addition, President Moon expressed the hope that economic cooperation between Korea and the United States would go beyond merely expanding trade and investment to develop into a strategic economic partnership that jointly pioneers global markets. In this connection, the President asked the businesses from the two sides to deliver a new breakthrough for economic growth in both countries through joint strategic ventures into global markets.

Underscoring that the new Korean Administration would exert all its efforts in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue based on the firm ROK-U.S. alliance, the President said he looked forward to the businesses of both nations taking interest in economic cooperation with North Korea as new opportunities could arise when security risks are addressed.  

At a meeting held before the dinner with the business leaders attending the Business Summit, President Moon asked major companies in both countries to strengthen their strategic partnership in emerging industries, create new businesses and, at the same time, generate many decent jobs. 

The Business Summit was a great opportunity for President Moon to introduce the direction of economic reforms of the new Administration to key leaders from U.S. companies, including J.P. Morgan and General Electric, and to ask them to expand their investment in Korea.