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[iNews24 reporter Kim Dong-hyun] During the U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Michelle Steel (Korean name Park Eun-joo), the nominee for U.S. ambassador to South Korea, senators raised Korea Zinc’s investment project.
At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on the 20th (local time), Senator Bill Hagerty described Korea Zinc’s Clarksville, Tennessee initiative, “Project Crucible,” as a highly strategic undertaking.
Hagerty asked Steel to treat the project as a priority and to help ensure it proceeds smoothly if she assumes the ambassadorial post. Steel replied, “If confirmed, I will actively support it.”
Observers said it was unusual for a specific South Korean company’s project to be raised during a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.
“Project Crucible” is a 9 trillion KRW (approximately $6.75 billion) critical-minerals and nonferrous-metals supply-chain project and is being described as the largest private investment in Tennessee history.
The project has drawn attention amid U.S. efforts to strengthen domestic critical-minerals supply chains. Developers say the planned smelter would produce multiple nonferrous metals and strategic minerals and would include semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid capacity needed for chip manufacturing.
In follow‑up questions, Hagerty also raised broader concerns about critical‑mineral supply chains and strategic investment. Analysts note that the U.S.-South Korea alliance, long focused on military and security cooperation, has in recent years expanded into economic-security and industrial supply-chain collaboration amid shifting geopolitical dynamics.
The hearing also covered U.S.-Korea economic-security cooperation and trade issues. Senator Pete Ricketts pressed the source of roughly $350 billion in investment cited in the joint U.S.-Korea fact sheet. Steel said she wants to verify precisely where the funds come from and pledged to consult directly with Korean government officials.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen also raised separate concerns about the transparency of shipbuilding cooperation funds and urged that related information be shared with the Foreign Relations Committee.
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