Gov. Kemp visits South Korea to promote business opportunities in Georgia

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp is in South Korea and only Channel 2 Action News is talking with him about the trip.

He’s there to promote the business opportunities in Georgia and to strengthen the ties businesses already have in Georgia.

Kemp told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that he hopes to strengthen the relationships that already exist between Georgia and Hyundai, Kia and SK Battery.

It was also a chance for Kemp to see the Demilitarized Zone and elevate his national profile.

In an exclusive interview, Kemp told Elliot that the DMZ doesn’t just mark a border between two nations, but between two ideals.

“It was really, I think, a stark reminder of there’s a thin line between, you know, freedom and democracy and tyranny,” Kemp said.

But while the visit to the DMZ elevated his national profile for potential future political runs, Kemp was in South Korea on Georgia business.

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Georgia is already home to several major South Korean investments – the West Point Kia plant, the massive SK Battery plant outside of Commerce, and most recently, the Hyundai Meta plant in Pooler where the company will start manufacturing electric vehicles, or EVs.

“The last three years have really been making the biggest investments in our state. In 2023 alone, it was $10 billion of investment,” Kemp said.

There are concerns over a recent softening in the EV market.

But Kemp insists the recent market woes are just a blip on the radar and that Georgia’s investment will pay off big.

“These companies, they’re not making decisions, Richard, on what’s happening in a one-year period. I mean, they’re really thinking about generational investments,” Kemp said.

Kemp said he is in South Korea to nurture existing relationships, but he said they’re also trying to get a new prospect to invest in Georgia.

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