Yoon Suk Yeol asks Tesla CEO Elon Musk to invest in Korea

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, chats with Tesla CEO Elon Musk during their meeting at Blair House in Washington on Wednesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to invest in a factory in Korea at a meeting held during the Korean leader’s state visit to the United States, a presidential official said Wednesday.

The 40-minute meeting, which was organized at the request of Musk, took place at Blair House, across the street from the White House in Washington Wednesday, according to Choi Sang-mok, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs.

Musk is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Yoon noted that Korea has top-notch manufacturing robots and an advanced labor force, “making it an ideal country for Tesla to run a 'gigafactory' with the highest efficiency,” according to Choi.

While it is not clear what sort of factory was discussed on the call, Yoon mentioned a "gigafactory," a term used to describe Tesla’s big-scale manufacturing plant.

Tesla's Nevada plant, its first so-called "gigafactory," only manufactures batteries and motors, while the ones in Texas, Berlin and Shanghai produce electric vehicles with plans to produce batteries.

Yoon said he intends to support Tesla and offer incentives regarding location, workforce and taxes if the automaker decides to invest in Korea.

Yoon gave Musk a brochure titled "Korea for the Next Gigafactory," the presidential office added.

Musk said that he would like to visit Korea, adding he is interested in Korea as an investment destination to build a plant, saying that the country is one of his top candidates.

Musk said last year he will soon announce plans to build its second gigafactory in Asia.

Yoon also said he hopes for greater cooperation between Korean companies and SpaceX to help Korea's space industry grow and take on new challenges.

The latest meeting marks the second for both, as the two held a video call last November in which the two discussed the possibility of building a Tesla plant in Korea.

Tesla currently runs five gigafactories around the world, three in the United States, one in Shanghai and one in Berlin.

It recently announced plans to build a new gigafactory in Mexico near Monterrey. Tesla also decided to build a battery plant for energy storage systems in Shanghai.

BY SARAH KIM, SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]