Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp meets South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during overseas trip

June 18th, 2024

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at a presser. — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp at the state Capitol in Atlanta on Monday, December 18, 2023. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday that he discussed South Korean investment in Georgia and international security during a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul.

The Republican Kemp has been visiting South Korea for a week, focusing mainly on visiting South Korean businesses that currently do business in Georgia, as well as those who might open locations there.

However, Kemp has also visited the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea.

“Following roughly two decades of prosperity and economic growth as a result of our strong partnership, it was an honor to meet with President Yoon to reflect on the valued friendship between both our state and nation, and the incredible opportunities it has helped create for both our people,” Kemp said in a statement.

A former prosecutor, Yoon was elected as the nominee of the right-wing People Power Party in 2022. He served as the nation’s prosecutor general from 2019 to 2021. His party, which was already in the minority, lost further ground to the rival Democratic Party in South Korea’s legislative elections earlier this year.

Kemp and a 15-person delegation, including Georgia state lawmakers and economic recruiters, have been meeting with companies with large operations in Georgia, including Hyundai Motor Group, LG Group, SK Group, Hanwha Qcells and CJ Foodville.

Hyundai is building a $7.6 billion automotive assembly complex near Savannah, with LG Group building a battery plant there. SK Group owns a battery plant in Commerce and is building a plant to make semiconductor materials in Covington, while Hyundai and SK are jointly building a $5 billion batter plant in Cartersville. Hanwha Qcells owns solar panel plants in Dalton and Cartersville. CJ Foodville is building a bakery in Gainesville.

It’s Kemp’s sixth official trip abroad as governor. He went to South Korea in 2019, Germany in 2020, Israel in May 2023 and the nation of Georgia and France in June 2023. He also attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2023 and 2024.