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There were 17 days before the US House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes only US electric vehicles.
It was a kind of 'golden time' when the Korean government should focus on diplomatic efforts.
Reporter Kang Min-woo covered the story.
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On July 27, the text of the IRA, an inflation reduction law that subsidizes only electric vehicles made in the United States, was unveiled for the first time.
The bill passed the Senate on August 7th and the House of Representatives on August 12th.
It was only ten weeks that we were able to engage in diplomatic warfare by expressing our concerns to the IRA, which could cause enormous damage to the Korean electric vehicle industry. Only three U.S. congressmen were officially interviewed by the Korean ambassador to the United States: Amy Klobucher, Senator Tom Cotton, and Representative Darren Sotton.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who is known to hold the key to passing the IRA bill and thus made contact between Japan and Canada, was not interviewed.
On August 4, when President Yun Seok-yeol visited Korea and had a phone call with Speaker of the House of Representatives Pelosi, the embassy sent a report on the IRA to the presidential office. There is no record of having met with U.S. lawmakers since August 4.
There is no official meeting schedule even at an urgent time when the bill is passed one after another in the House and Senate.
There is a possibility that there may have been an informal interview, but it is pointed out that he may have neglected full-fledged diplomacy at an important time.