US President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday. (AFP-Yonhap)
US President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday. (AFP-Yonhap)

US President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will partner with South Korea and Japan for an energy project in Alaska to develop the state's massive oil and gas reserves.

Trump made the remarks at his first summit with President Lee Jae Myung at the White House, which followed Seoul's trade deal with Washington to lower tariffs from 25 percent to 15 percent in exchange for a $350 billion investment package and $100 billion in US energy purchases.

"We have the greatest amount of energy in the world and we're dealing with South Korea, as you know, in Alaska," Trump said. "We're going to be making a deal, a joint venture with South Korea. Japan is also very strongly involved."

The project envisions shipping gas from northern Alaska in liquefied form to Asian markets. South Korea and Japan are the world's No. 3 and No. 2 LNG importers, respectively, after China.

"We have more oil and gas and coal than any other nation in the world by far, and we're going to use it. And that's the thing that South Korea, I think, most wants from us," he said. (Yonhap)