Opposition unites against Samsung, SK hynix relocation to Honam region

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

Opposition politicians have united in pushing back against the government's drive to steer Samsung Electronics and SK hynix toward building a semiconductor cluster in the Honam region. Critics are questioning the plan's viability, citing inadequate production infrastructure and a shortage of skilled workers, while accusing the government of overreaching into private business decisions.

Ko Dong-jin, a People Power Party lawmaker and former Samsung Electronics executive, raised concerns at a PPP policy forum with private semiconductor experts held at the National Assembly on Thursday. "Semiconductor specialists and materials, parts and equipment companies are concentrated in the southern part of the Greater Seoul area," Ko said. "Establishing a cluster in Honam would likely trigger a competition with the capital region for the same pool of experienced workers."

Ko said the government must examine from multiple angles whether the conditions for workers to settle in the region have been established, given the risk of labor shortages and rising costs. "Taken as a whole, this is nothing more than an inflammatory show designed to prop up President Lee Jae Myung's falling approval ratings," he said.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok wrote on Facebook, criticizing Lee's back-to-back private meetings with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong. "What would Lee Jae Myung have to lean on without Samsung and SK hynix? Share prices, exports, growth rates — he is hanging on by clinging to those two companies," Jang wrote. "It is truly a shame that Samsung and SK hynix, which barely made it through the hard times and are only now seeing some light from semiconductors, are being stripped of everything."

PPP lawmaker Na Kyung-won also took to Facebook, saying the head of Cheong Wa Dae's policy office had announced — and the president had ordered — an industrial location decision that should have been made through fierce deliberation by corporate boards. "The forced extortion of the Lee Jae Myung administration is a choice that helps neither the companies nor the Honam region," she said.

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon wrote on Facebook on Wednesday: "How is this any different from the Mir and K-Sports Foundation case — which helped bring down the Park Geun-hye government — where companies were said to have made voluntary donations? If conglomerates who fear power and have much to lose are pressured into a decision, must shareholders simply go along?"

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said the government should have no say in where semiconductor factories are built. "Power supply, water, transmission networks, partner companies and workers all have to align at the same time," he said. "Even Yongin, which has the best infrastructure, took six years to get the first fab into operation."

Lee added that if companies were truly deciding on their own, the government should stay silent. "They call it voluntary, yet Cheong Wa Dae sends the signal and the ruling party takes the credit," he said.