Business and political leaders from Seongnam, South Korea, are in Fulton County to talk technology collaboration and scout for industrial sites, raising hopes of high-tech jobs coming to College Park and other cities in the county’s south end.
The visit from Seongnam city officials and the head of Hills Robotics is a reciprocal trip. Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts made a solo trip to South Korea last August, then led a local delegation to Seongnam in April.
About 60 people attended a red-carpet reception Saturday night at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, where they dined on glazed chicken, beef tenderloin and sea bass.
After welcoming speeches, Hills Robotics CEO Muenggyu Park and College Park Mayor Bianca Motley Broom signed a ceremonial memorandum of understanding. Seongnam Mayor Sang-Jin Shin said the agreement is for the sale of two Hills’ robots to be displayed in the city. Another such agreement is being signed with Fairburn, he said.
Seongnam itself will sign an MOU Monday with Fulton County to increase their partnership in business, culture and personnel exchange, Shin said. An agreement will be signed between the respective development authorities of Seongnam and Fulton County too, he said.
The MOUs seem to be largely symbolic, but all parties say they lay the groundwork for concrete collaboration to come.
The Korean delegation to Fulton County included Shin and Park; Gyu Beom Hwang, director general of Seongnam City’s 4th industry Promotion Bureau; and Euijoon Lee, president and CEO of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency.
Seongnam, a planned city just southeast of Seoul, has a population of about 1 million — roughly the same as Fulton County. It’s home to Pangyo Tech Valley, a 13-year-old development and manufacturing complex that is the site of more than 1,000 high-tech companies.
Shin credited the visits from Pitts and other local officials with attracting and solidifying interest in Fulton County from Seongnam officials and corporate executives. The Korean delegation came to see business prospects and conditions here, he said. Shin said he hopes to solidify business relationships with Fulton County and its cities.
On Feb. 26 Pitts hosted a reception for Korean officials, including Consul General Sangpyo Suh and executives from LG Chem and SK, companies that already have a “strong presence in Fulton County,” according to his “Chairman’s Blog.” He referred to that as “just the beginning” of trade ties with South Korea.
Local officials traveled to Korea on April 21 to 27, meeting with executives from robotics and artificial intelligence, biomedical, electric vehicle and other firms, along with officials from Seongnam and regional governments.
The Fulton delegation to Korea included Pitts; College Park City Councilman Joe Carn; state Sen. Brandon Beach, Development Authority of Fulton County chair; DAFC Vice Chair Kwanza Hall; Fairburn Economic Development Director Sylvia Abernathy and East Point City Councilman Joshua Butler.
Carn said the April visit to South Korea included pitches to 23 companies, touting College Park as a prime development site due to logistics, the 300-plus-acre Six West mixed-use development, and available industrial parcels.
“Several of them expressed interest in a North American headquarters or manufacturing base,” he said.
The itinerary for Korean officials’ visit to Fulton County includes meetings at Georgia Tech, College Park, East Point and Fairburn.
Hall said such a quick return visit from Korean officials testifies to their desire to build a relationship with Fulton County. He believes the MOUs set the stage for significant local investment.
A letter from Hills Robotics setting up the current trip says the company wants to collaborate with the county and Georgia Tech on a strategic partnership for research and development.
“Through this, Hills Robotics and Georgia Tech will develop robots that we plan to commercialize,” the letter says. It mentions supplying robots to College Park, East Point, Fairburn and Fulton County.
The letter lays out several possibilities for future projects:
- Developing an autonomous vehicle system in Fulton County
- Using robots to improve supply chain and logistics efficiency here
- Installing AI-based kiosks in public places
- Deploying medical robots to support Grady Memorial Hospital in improving patient care and efficiency.
Pitts and Shin both touted the close relationship between the United States and South Korea since the start of the Korean War in 1950.
Pitts noted that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is in South Korea this week on a similar economic development tour, heading a delegation that will meet with current and prospective investors in Georgia.
The mayor of Goyang, another satellite city of Seoul — with a population around 1 million and home to several universities — is expected to visit Fulton County with other Korean government officials June 24.
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