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KISTEP's National R&D Program Evaluation General Committee (under the Korean government's mandatory ex-ante feasibility review process for large national R&D spending, 국가연구개발혁신법) cleared the "Korean-style Hydrogen Reduction Steelmaking Demonstration Technology Development Project" on 2025-06-26. The total project cost is KRW 814.6 billion (~USD 590m) over five years (2026-2030), of which KRW 308.8 billion (~USD 224m, roughly 38%) is state funding channeled through MOTIE (reorganized into MOTIR — Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources — in the 2025 cabinet restructuring). The core task funds a 300,000-tonne scale demonstration plant that reduces iron ore with hydrogen instead of coking coal, emitting water vapor rather than CO2 — built on Korea's proprietary FINEX ironmaking process, which is designated a national critical technology under the Industrial Technology Protection Act. A second task supports SME/mid-cap electric-arc-furnace operators in using the resulting hydrogen-reduced iron as feedstock.
Severity is set at 3 (moderate): this is a demonstration-scale program, not yet a commercial subsidy to steel exports, but the KRW 308.8bn state-funding figure and 300,000-tonne target scale are both disclosed quantities, so severity is anchored on quant grounds per the magnitude directive.
convert blast-furnace capacity to hydrogen-reduction routes by 2050; this project funds the intermediate demonstration step neither firm is fully bankrolling alone.
treatment and green-steel price premiums ahead of many blast-furnace competitors (China, India).
program already on the register (2025-11-04-korea-motie-ibk-ksure-steel-export-guarantee-program) as part of a broader state push to keep Korean steel competitive amid Chinese overcapacity and rising EU/US trade-remedy exposure.
implies co-investment commitments from POSCO/Hyundai Steel that have been separately disclosed.
CVD investigations given the demonstration (non-commercial) framing.