Georgia Welcomes New Korean Auto Plant

Georgia residents, who have seen a continuous loss of jobs since the decline of the state’s textile industry, are pinning their hopes on Kia Motors, according to Georgia’s TV channel WTVM 9 yesterday.

Newspapers and broadcasting stations across the state reported the news of Georgia “winning” the Kia Motors U.S. factory with much fanfare.

Headquartered in Atlanta, CNN also reported the news of Kia Motors’ decision to build a new auto plant in Georgia several times yesterday, calling it welcome news. The CNN show “American Morning” described it as excellent news for job-seeking residents.

The reason for the enthusiasm is that there has been a great deal of unpleasant employment news in Georgia recently, including the closures of Ford and GM production facilities.

Georgia residents are welcoming the Korean automaker with open arms. On an online forum, one netizen wrote that many people had lost their jobs after GM and Ford shut down their facilities, and that the new Kia Motors factory will bring benefits to Georgia’s economy.

Because employment is always a key issue in gubernatorial elections, some observers feel that successfully bringing in the Kia factory has given a green light to the re-election of Georgia’s incumbent governor, Sonny Perdue.

Since job creation influences election results, state governments in the U.S. do everything they can to bring in corporate investment, offering many benefits to businesses. The local media reported that the Georgia state government plans to sell the factory site to Kia Motors for $2 million. It originally purchased the land for $35.7 million.

In Korea such actions are sometimes criticized as “giving special favors to businesses,” but in the U.S., such “favors” are considered as basic incentives that states offer to create more employment opportunities.

Kia Motors received incentives worth about $410 million dollars to open its plant in Georgia, which means that the price of creating one job was roughly $164,000. But since jobs generate more income, revitalize local economy, and lead to higher tax revenues, the state of Georgia believes providing such incentives is still worthwhile.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com