Presidential Office "Formation of Dedicated Team for Attracting Tesla Gigafactory" (Comprehensive)

Elon Musk "One of South Korea's Top Priority Investment Destinations"
Choi Sang-mok Senior Official "Korea-Saudi MOU Highly Feasible... Also Expecting NEOM City"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 23rd, President Yoon Suk-yeol explained the Korean automotive ecosystem and investment conditions to Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and requested investment in Korea.

Since CEO Musk also responded that he is considering Korea as a top investment candidate, the Presidential Office, together with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA, decided to form a dedicated team to actively pursue investment attraction.

Choi Sang-mok, Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs, held a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon and announced this regarding the video conference between President Yoon and CEO Musk.

At 10 a.m. that day, President Yoon held a video meeting with CEO Musk and explained the Korean automotive ecosystem and investment environment in relation to Tesla's plan to build a 'Gigafactory,' a complete electric vehicle production base in Asia, and requested investment in Korea.

CEO Musk said, "We are considering Korea as one of the top investment candidates and will make a decision after comprehensively reviewing the workforce, technology level, and production environment of Asian candidate countries. We also plan to significantly expand supply chain cooperation with Korean companies, expecting that the purchase amount of parts from Korean companies will exceed $10 billion (approximately 13 trillion KRW) in 2023."

President Yoon mentioned the Korean launch vehicle Nuriho, which successfully launched with indigenous technology in June this year, introducing that "Korea is making multifaceted efforts to open a full-fledged space economy era." He also introduced the new government's plans to foster space and aviation startups, nurture related personnel, and promote the establishment of a space aviation agency, urging cooperation between SpaceX and Korean space industry companies.

President Yoon also emphasized, "If there are unreasonable regulations that hinder investment by global advanced innovative companies in Korea, we will reform them to comply with global standards."

Senior Secretary Choi conveyed that CEO Musk expressed active agreement with President Yoon's remarks on space industry cooperation.

Regarding the possibility of attracting the Gigafactory, Senior Secretary Choi said, "It is a decision for Tesla to make, so it is difficult to comment specifically. We hope for good results at an appropriate time."

Meanwhile, Senior Secretary Choi also reported that the feasibility of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Korea and Saudi Arabia during the visit of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on the 17th is high. He observed, "Our companies have signed at least $29 billion (approximately 39 trillion KRW) worth of 26 contracts and MOUs with Saudi Arabia, and the contents are concrete with strong execution willingness from the Saudi side, so the likelihood of realization is very high."

Senior Secretary Choi emphasized, "The greatest achievement is that our country has established itself as a key cooperative partner beyond the eight priority cooperation countries in Saudi Arabia's national strategy Vision 2030. Among the eight priority cooperation countries, only Korea and Japan have joint committees with Saudi Arabia. This time, Saudi Arabia visited us first among the two countries and expressed strong cooperation intentions by referring to Korea as a benchmark."

He continued, "If the Neom City project, estimated to be at least $500 billion in scale, materializes in the future, it is expected that additional significant achievements will be added. The progress of the 26 MOUs and contract projects will be jointly reviewed with the Saudi side at the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee. Also, a Korea-Saudi private promotion committee will be formed to identify and promptly address difficulties faced by companies planning to enter the market."