South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol said that the country is going to offer “tailored” incentives to encourage Tesla to set up an electric vehicle gigafactory. It will be made such that the risks posed by militant unions are reduced.
There was a video call with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk last week. The changes come as Musk stated that Tesla is considering South Korea as one of its top locations for next gigafactory. “If Tesla, Space X, or other companies are considering more investment in Korea including constructing a gigafactory, the government will do our best to support the investment,” Yoon told Reuters during a broader interview in his office on Monday.
Yoon said South Korea offers highly skilled workers and his government would ensure regulations align with international standards so that foreign firms do not face unexpected financial or regulatory hurdles. “We are preparing a tailored approach to grant some advantages to these specified companies,” Yoon said through an interpreter when asked about what advantage South Korea can offer to Tesla over other locations being mentioned. Tesla has said it would consider building another gigafactory. Canada, Indonesia, India, and Thailand have also been mentioned in media reports as possible locations, but analysts noted that those countries do not have the kind of automotive supply chain that South Korea does, although some are abundant in natural resources like nickel.
Agreements
Yoon credited his government’s tough response to labor union strikes this year for starting the process of establishing a rule of law in industrial relations for both management and labor. Yoon’s government is taking steps to use an administrative order to force unionized truckers to go back to work after talks aimed at ending their strike ended on Monday without an agreement.
About 9,600 truckers have joined the strike organized by the truckers’ union, demanding a permanent guarantee of a minimum freight rate to protect against rising and unpredictable fuel costs and overwork. “The militant union culture is a serious problem in South Korean society,” Yoon said. He said he told Musk the goal of his labor policy is to establish the rule of law to eliminate the risks of unfair labor practices. South Korea saw an average of 39 days of work stoppage annually due to labor disputes over the past 10 years, nearly five times higher than that of the United States eight days and nearly 200 times higher than Japan’s 0.2 days, according to the Korea Enterprises Federation.
