(ATTN: UPDATES with details in paras 9-11)

SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's industry minister said Thursday that the U.S. government is expected to announce the results of its investigation into alleged overproduction under Section 301 of the Trade Act by the end of this month.

"As we understand, the announcement is expected to be made by the end of August," Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan said during a forum hosted by the Kwanhun Club, a Seoul-based journalists' association.

"We are doing our best to ensure that any tariffs resulting from the ongoing investigation remain within the 15 percent ceiling under the existing Korea-U.S. trade agreement."

Last month, Washington announced a new set of tariffs on imports from 60 trading partners, ranging from 10 percent to 12.5 percent, following an investigation into forced labor under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Under the new scheme, South Korea is subject to 12.5 percent tariffs along with Japan and Switzerland.

Separate from the forced labor-related investigation, the U.S. government is also investigating 16 economies, including South Korea, over alleged excess industrial capacity under the same trade law.

Kim said the two countries have agreed that any tariffs imposed under the Section 301 investigation would not exceed 15 percent, in line with the Seoul-Washington tariff agreement concluded last year.

South Korea exported US$122.9 billion to the United States and imported $73.4 billion last year, making the U.S. South Korea's second-largest trading partner.

On operating profit-linked bonus schemes, Kim made clear his opposition to awarding bonuses based on a fixed percentage of operating profit without approval from a company's board of directors or shareholders.

He said corporate and capital market laws should be revised to give shareholders a greater say in decisions on such bonus payments.

"Shareholders are the owners of a company, and investors who bear investment risks deserve similar consideration. Yet they are left out of the debate over performance-based bonuses," he said.

Meanwhile, the industry minister called for exempting companies in the proposed mega-special economic zones from the country's 52-hour workweek restriction, saying "the system should not stand in the way of young people's willingness to work."

A day earlier, however, Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said the country's major semiconductor companies, which already operate under the 52-hour workweek system, have posted record profits even without such an exemption.

In June, the government unveiled its "three mega projects" initiative, a plan to transform the country's economy through investments in semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence (AI) and AI data centers. The initiative calls for a combined investment of 4,755 trillion won (US$3.16 trillion).

As part of the initiative, the government envisions building two memory chip fabrication plants by Samsung Electronics Co. and two semiconductor fabrication plants by SK hynix Inc. in the southwestern city of Gwangju and the surrounding Jeolla provinces.

brk@yna.co.kr

(END)

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