AmCham "Foreign Investment Must Be Supported"... Lee Jae-myung "US-Korea Economic Cooperation Becomes More Important for Supply Chain Diversification"

Seeking Measures to Attract US Companies to Local Areas in Korea, Expand Direct Investment, and Create Jobs

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) announced on the 2nd that it held a special meeting by inviting Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea. Fourteen people attended the meeting, including AMCHAM board members and representatives of American companies in Korea. Participating companies included Korea 3M, Applied Materials Korea, ACE Insurance (Chubb), Korea Philip Morris, Qualcomm Korea, GE Korea, Korea Pfizer, Korea MSD, Korea GM, MGE International, Delta Air Lines, and Syngenta.

At this meeting, Candidate Lee discussed economic growth with the representatives of American companies in Korea, focusing on his policies and future vision as a presidential candidate, enhancing South Korea's competitiveness as an investment destination for American companies, and job creation plans for balanced regional development.

James Kim, Chairman and CEO of AMCHAM, said, "We expect Candidate Lee to play an important role in establishing policies to promote foreign direct investment and to make South Korea the Asian headquarters for many companies." He added, "Amid fierce competition to attract foreign investment in strategic sectors such as semiconductors, active support from the Korean government is necessary to successfully attract research and development (R&D) related investments, and we believe now is the right time."

Candidate Lee said, "The economies of South Korea and the United States have a very close cooperative relationship," and added, "As the global supply chain undergoes many changes recently, economic cooperation between Korea and the U.S. will become even more important."

He continued, "We will strengthen regulations that provide economic efficiency, but thoroughly ease regulations that hinder economic efficiency," and said, "From the perspective of the South Korean government and its people, foreign investment, including from the U.S., is very important, so we will find ways to ensure smooth domestic investment by employing various methods."

Meanwhile, this is the second meeting between AMCHAM and Candidate Lee Jae-myung. In April, when he was the Governor of Gyeonggi Province, Candidate Lee invited AMCHAM board members to discuss expanding foreign investment.