On Thursday, the Gwinnett Chamber hosted Mr. Yoonjoo Park, the new Consul General of Korea in Atlanta. Consul General Park succeeds outgoing Consul General Young-jun Kim. Mr. Park’s consulate covers six southeast states: Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. He graduated from Seoul National University and then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he held postings in Iran, the United States (Boston & Washington D.C.), and Australia.
The Gwinnett Chamber is excited to continue our strong relationship with the Consul General’s office and South Korea. The Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett travel to South Korea every year to recruit South Korean businesses to Gwinnett in their next expansion. With a thriving Korean American population in Gwinnett and over 1,000 Korean-American owned and operated businesses, Gwinnett’s ties to South Korea are essential to each other’s economic prosperity. In May, the Gwinnett Chamber held a virtual memorandum of understanding signing ceremony with the county’s sister-community, Gangnam District in Seoul. The agreement promises collaborative opportunities in the areas of trade, culture, tourism, and technology.
Georgia-South Korea activity is not uncommon in recent months. South Korean President Moon Jae-In visited Georgia in June to promote US-Korea relations and tout SK Innovation, an electric vehicle battery plant in Commerce, Georgia. Earlier this year, SK’s facility expansion was at risk of shutting down due to the International Trade Commission’s exclusion order against SK. The Gwinnett Chamber stood with our friends at the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce to urge President Joe Biden and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to reverse the ITC’s exclusion order. ITC later reversed its decision. SK plans to bring $5 billion in direct investment and create nearly 6,000 jobs in the next five years.
