Kim Dong-yeon Secures 1.4 Trillion Won in Overseas Investment, Strengthens Exchanges with Four U.S. and Canadian States

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gab-dong] Governor Kim Dong-yeon of Gyeonggi Province, who visited the United States and Canada for 11 nights and 13 days starting May 6, returned home on May 18 after successfully attracting 1.4 trillion won in overseas investment—exceeding the initial 1 trillion won target—and strengthening exchanges and cooperation with four states in western North America.

During this visit, Governor Kim traveled through seven major cities across two countries and four states: Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles in California; Phoenix in Arizona; Seattle in Washington; and Victoria in British Columbia (BC), Canada, while conducting investment promotion and strengthening exchange and cooperation activities.

Before returning to Korea, Governor Kim met with local journalists in the United States and explained a total of four achievements from the visit.

■1.4 Trillion Won in Investment Attracted

During the visit, Governor Kim successfully attracted overseas investment totaling 1.428 trillion won through two investment agreements (MOUs) and four letters of intent (LOIs) with a total of six companies.

Following Shinsegae Simon Co., Ltd. with 350 billion won and Cosmo Energy Co., Ltd. with 61 billion won—companies whose names were disclosed—Company A, a leading global semiconductor materials firm, expressed a letter of intent for 1 billion dollars (approximately 1.36 trillion won in Korean currency). Company A, which had previously invested in Gyeonggi Province, expressed its intention for additional investment of approximately 860 billion won beyond the existing investment of 500 billion won.

To secure Company A's additional investment, Governor Kim held two video conferences during the visit to encourage investment. Following the two video conferences involving Governor Kim in the United States, the company's U.S. headquarters, Asia Regional Manager in Shanghai, and Korea Representative, Company A expressed its letter of intent for 1 billion dollars in investment. Additionally, the province received letters of intent from Company B, an electric vehicle component industry firm, for 100 billion won, and from Company C, a semiconductor equipment company, for 57 billion won.

Accordingly, the province successfully attracted 1.428 trillion won in investment during the visit, consisting of 2 agreements totaling 411 billion won and 3 letters of intent totaling 1.017 trillion won. Separately, Company D, a semiconductor-related firm, also expressed its letter of intent, though the specific amount was not disclosed.

The province noted that while the investment attraction is significant in that overseas technology is brought in by Korean companies for commercialization, the standout achievement is attracting companies to northern and eastern Gyeonggi Province, which has been facing difficulties due to overlapping regulations. The province's comprehensive development of northern and eastern Gyeonggi Province, a key initiative of the current provincial administration, is expected to accelerate.

■Strengthened Exchanges and Cooperation with Four States in Western North America

During this visit, Governor Kim achieved the accomplishment of meeting with all four governors of four states—California, Washington, and Arizona in the United States and British Columbia in Canada—and establishing cooperation frameworks.

In California, Governor Kim met with Governor Gavin Newsom and agreed to reopen friendly cooperative relations between the two regions for the first time in 12 years. After concluding the business agreement, Governor Kim told reporters, "Governor Newsom didn't just talk—he made a commitment. He expressed very strong cooperation intentions, which makes me very pleased. The atmosphere was very positive."

Washington and Arizona opened new channels for exchange and cooperation. Both areas had been unexplored territories for Gyeonggi Province's exchanges, making them the Governor's first visits as a provincial governor. In Arizona, Governor Kim met with Governor Katie Hobbs and concluded a friendly cooperation agreement. This makes Arizona the fourth U.S. state to establish a friendly cooperation relationship with Gyeonggi Province, following Texas, Michigan, and California. In Washington, "climate governor" Jay Inslee and "climate governor" Kim Dong-yeon acknowledged shared recognition on joint response to the climate crisis and agreed on establishing a working-level consultation body to further strengthen cooperation. At British Columbia in Canada, with which Gyeonggi Province has a sister province relationship, Governor Kim received treatment equivalent to a state visit, further solidifying the exchange and cooperation relationship between the two regions. In particular, contrary to expectations that it would be difficult to attend due to massive wildfires, Premier David Eby visited Governor Kim, demonstrating a strong bond.

■Strengthened Corporate Cooperation for Investment in Advanced Fields

One notable aspect of Governor Kim's North America business trip was the startup delegation that accompanied the schedule. The measure was designed to facilitate natural exchange relationships by having entrepreneurs participate alongside the governor's meetings with provincial governors and companies.

These startups participated in Governor Kim's visits to Google and NVIDIA, BizAI, a unicorn company, and Arizona State University, providing opportunities for exchange and cooperation. One of the participating company representatives, after concluding a meeting with NVIDIA, said, "As a small-to-medium-sized company, it's difficult to get the opportunity to meet and exchange contact information with big tech company executives like those at Google and NVIDIA," and noted that "it was a great opportunity to network." At the BizAI visit, a representative unicorn company in the U.S. healthcare sector with a corporate valuation of 1.2 billion dollars, Chris Mansy, CEO, and the startup delegation engaged in an in-depth discussion on success strategies for over an hour.

Regarding this, Governor Kim commented, "I believe that Gyeonggi Province startups and semiconductor-related companies coming together created an important turning point for corporate cooperation."

Additionally, Governor Kim visited BioComm California, the largest biotech association in the United States, and Illumina, a leading U.S. genomics analysis company, creating a foundation for cooperation to support Gyeonggi Province companies.

■Expanded Youth Exchange and Opportunities for Korean Talented Professionals to Advance Internationally

During this visit, Governor Kim visited Washington State University and UC San Diego to urge active support for young people participating in the Gyeonggi Youth Ladder program. At Washington State University, 30 youth will participate in the Gyeonggi Youth Ladder program from July 8-26, and at UC San Diego, 25 youth will participate from July 1-26.

To expand overseas exchange opportunities for young people, Governor Kim, during his meeting with British Columbia Premier Eby, mentioned that the working holiday visa quota had increased from the existing 4,000 to 12,000 people, and proposed, "I hope we can find ways to cooperate, such as linking the Gyeonggi Province youth internship programs currently in operation with working holidays and giving priority to those selected through Gyeonggi Province programs."

During meetings with Arizona Governor and others, Governor Kim explained the difficulties Korean professionals face in obtaining specialized occupation visas and requested cooperation in passing the Korea-U.S. Partnership Act currently pending in the U.S. Congress to increase Korean professional visa quotas, leveraging his experience as a former Deputy Prime Minister to address pending economic diplomatic issues.

Governor Kim stated, "I am very pleased to have attracted far more investment than initially expected. As a governor focused on revenue generation, I will make even greater efforts to attract over 100 trillion won in domestic and foreign investment going forward," and added, "I also believe the accomplishment of establishing bases for cooperation with four states in areas such as technological exchange and human exchange on climate change is a major achievement."