Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon / Yonhap

A senior Korean diplomat will visit the United States next week, the foreign ministry said Thursday, in a diplomatic effort to address concerns over a new U.S. law excluding electric vehicles made outside of North America from tax benefits.

Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon is set to visit New York and Washington from Monday through Sept. 23 for a series of talks with officials from the U.S. government and Congress, including Jose W. Fernandez, under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment.

During the meetings, Lee is expected to highlight the need for Washington to take steps to address concerns in Korea over the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Korean automakers see as discriminatory against their products.

The IRA, signed by U.S. President Joe Biden in August, gives tax credits to buyers of EVs assembled only in North America, sparking concerns that carmakers here will lose ground in the U.S. market as they make EVs at domestic plants for export. (Yonhap)