SEOUL, August 31. /TASS/. South Korea and the US failed to reach an agreement on certain tariff-related issues, which is why no joint statement was issued following the bilateral summit, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said.
"Although we agreed on many other aspects, there was no agreement at that time on the very important issue of tariffs. After consulting on how to address this issue, the parties decided that the most amicable option would be to postpone it until next time," the top diplomat told KBS1 TV in an interview.
"This issue is related to national interests and therefore cannot be rushed. We have no intention of embellishing the issues on which we have not agreed," Cho said.
On August 25, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and his US counterpart Donald Trump held a summit in Washington. After the meeting, the South Korean leader gave a positive assessment of its results. Donald Trump said that, in his opinion, South Korea and the United States had reached an agreement on tariffs.
At the end of July, the US and South Korea reached an agreement whereby Washington would impose a 15% tariff on South Korean goods. Earlier, the US president had threatened to impose a 25% tariff. In return, South Korea promised to invest $350 billion in the US economy and purchase $100 billion worth of energy resources.