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By Jon Gillooly
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer
When Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairman Sam Olens toured South Korea last summer to woo businesses to Cobb, the president of Seoul-based Kia Motors Corporation asked Olens to arrange a tour of Lockheed Martin next time he was in the U.S.
Olens fulfilled his promise to the Kia president, who was in West Point near the Alabama border Tuesday morning to kick off the opening of a $1.2 billion auto assembly plant slated to open in 2009.
Asked why he wanted to visit Lockheed, the president, Euisun Chung, said he intended to see the F-22 Raptor.
"It's a lovely plane. My favorite. That's why," Chung said.
Olens, Chung and a team of Kia executives met with Lockheed chief Lee Rhyant for an overview of Lockheed Tuesday afternoon before hopping on golf carts to tour the main production building, which at 3.5 million square feet, is where the C-130 Hercules and F-22 Raptor are built.
"The intent here was just to cover with him more about Cobb," Olens said. "Clearly, the more he knows about Cobb the more apt we can look for job growth in Cobb along with that. When he goes back to Seoul he's not only discussing Kia, he's talking to executives of other companies potentially coming to the Southeast, and we want to be able to attract that business."
Kia has two offices in Cobb - a sales office of 50 employees in the Cobb Galleria and a credit office of 80 near Six Flags.
Olens, who sat next to Chung on the golf cart during the tour, remarked on how many detailed, technology-related questions Chung asked the tour guide.
And, "They were very impressed by the cleanliness of the plant," Olens said.
"F-22's amazing," Chung said after the tour.
As Kia president, Chung, 38, is the No. 2 man in charge of the company behind his father, M.K. Chung, 70, who is the company's chairman.
Asked if he plans to replace his father, Chung laughed.
"I don't know," he said.
Just as a delegation of county and business leaders from Cobb visited South Korea last summer, a group from that country is expected to arrive in Cobb on April 20 as part of a weeklong exchange, said Robert Quigley, county spokesman.
Olens said it's all about building relationships.
"Unlike some locations where governments look for sister city relationships, the Republic of Korea is a thriving democracy with free trade and with great relations with our country. So from our perspective, it was really a great partnership because the people love America, we have a great history from renovating the B-29s for the Korean War to subsequent sales of the P-3s to the Republic now, and we already have these large businesses here and we have a growing Korean population," Olens said.
It has been reported that the West Point plant will bring in 2,500 jobs with an economic impact to Georgia projected at about $4 billion per year.
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