Kemp in Korea This Week to Reinforce Ties With Investors

Five years after his first voyage to South Korea, Gov. Brian Kemp is back in the country to reinforce ties with investors that have since poured billions into Georgia.

Mr. Kemp chose Korea for his inaugural international mission as governor in the summer of 2019, seeing the potential for future growth after the 2017 announcement that SK Battery would put a $2.6 billion plant in Commerce.

The hunch has paid off: Korean firms in fiscal-year 2023 announced projects promising more than 12,000 jobs, many of them tied to the electric-vehicle sector, which Mr. Kemp has championed.

Accompanied by First Lady Marty Kemp and lawmakers including President Pro Tem John Kennedy, State Rep. Soo Hong, a Republican from Buford and State Rep. Lehman Franklin, a Republican from Statesboro, the governor will visit a who’s-who of investors like Hyundai Motor Group, Kia, CJ Foodville, LG Group, SK Group and Hanwha Qcells.

Other state agencies represented on the trip include the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia Environmental Protection Division and the Georgia Ports Authority.

During the last two years, Mr. Kemp has also met with Korean executives during events at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, in his estimation saving time making inroads with companies that are transforming the state with big bets on a clean-energy future.

But Pat Wilson, commissioner of economic development, noted that meeting on the Korean investors’ turf “provides a unique opportunity to learn more about their perspective on an industry and where it is headed. By keeping the lines of communication open, we can stay ahead of the curve in industry shifts, positioning Georgia at the forefront of new opportunities.”

That seems increasingly vital in the sectors where Georgia is seeing billion-dollar commitments, like solar panels and batteries, which have been heavily incentivized by federal regulation but have also seen uneven sales amid shifting market dynamics.

In 2025, Georgia will celebrate 40 years of operating an office in Seoul. Trade with Korea stood at $15.8 billion last year, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the state’s total trade.

On the first day of their trip, Mr. Kemp and the First Lady visited the demilitarized zone, the 160-mile-long area of demarcation between nuclear-armed North Korea, governed by dictator Kim Jong Un, and the democratic South Korea, where the U.S. has nearly 30,000 troops stationed.

The DMZ is also a popular tourist attraction, accessible by 35-mile bus-ride from Seoul and allowing visitors to view infrastructure from the Korean War and peer northward into a country known as the Hermit Kingdom through binoculars. While an armistice brought an end to the Korean War in 1953, the two sides have never signed a peace treaty.

Mr. Kemp said in a news release that the DMZ is “a boundary between democracy and tyranny.”

“It was truly humbling to reflect on the service, sacrifice, and legacy of the thousands of Koreans and Americans who fought and died to preserve the freedoms of the Korean people,” Mr. Kemp said. “Our visit is also a powerful reminder of America’s responsibility to stand with our allies in championing freedom and liberty around the world, and the strong partnership our state and nation enjoy with the Republic of Korea.”

The stop is the latest manifestation of Mr. Kemp’s focus on national-security issues during international trips, following similar engagements in Israel and the nation of Georgia.

The mission will last through early next week.