South Korean opposition lawmaker warns on risks in US investment package

Kim Sung-won, chairman of the National Assembly's trade committee, said he met South Korea's top trade envoy, Park Jung-sung, to review the status of the negotiations.

Kim said South Korean-designed nuclear reactors could be prevented from entering the US market, while conditions for a power plant project were "deteriorating". He also cited concerns that the United States could receive most of the profits while South Korea bore potential losses.

"Things become more worrying the closer one looks," Kim wrote in a Facebook post.

The two governments have been discussing energy investments including a large gas-fired power project in Texas and a project to build up to eight nuclear reactors, according to recent media reports.

The reports said negotiations had been complicated by differences over reactor technology, financing and the allocation of profits and losses.