WASHINGTON—South Korea’s finance minister said Seoul should lessen its trade reliance on the U.S. and China as it seeks to resolve economic spats with its two largest trading partners.

Kim Dong-yeon said in an interview on Thursday that geopolitical factors had highlighted the need for Seoul to hedge its bets. He also argued that the U.S. should focus less on its trade deficit in goods with South Korea, while emphasizing Seoul’s role in shrinking that deficit by about 30% since the beginning of the year.

...