PPP seeks hearing with Lee Jae-yong, Chey Tae-won over Honam semiconductor cluster

The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee is pushing to hold a hearing on the Honam semiconductor cluster investment, with plans to summon Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as witnesses. Lawmakers say they want to determine whether the government applied undue pressure during the site selection process.

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Seong-won, who chairs the committee, is pursuing the hearing and seeking to call both Lee and Chey as witnesses, according to political sources.

The PPP has taken issue with what it describes as a sudden reversal in Chey's position on investing in the Honam region — a shift that occurred within just two months.

Chey attended a policy seminar titled "Korea's Growth Strategy Amid the US-China AI Technology Rivalry," hosted by the Korea-China Parliamentary Friendship League at the National Assembly in late April. There, Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Jin-wook, a member of the trade committee, asked Chey whether he would consider building a semiconductor factory in Gwangju or South Jeolla Province, noting the region's available electricity supply.

Chey hedged his response, saying he agreed that factories should go where the power is, but adding, "I'm not sure it necessarily follows that a semiconductor factory has to go there."

Earlier, PPP lawmaker Ko Dong-jin, a former Samsung Electronics president, raised doubts in a radio interview. "Isn't it strange that his position changed in just two months?" Ko said, adding that semiconductor site selection typically takes five to seven years.

At a plenary session of the trade committee on Aug. 12, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan was asked by PPP lawmaker Kim Do-eup who had first proposed the Honam location. Kim said the companies needed a site and the government put forward proposals for suitable locations.

The minister said the government had proposed various sites, including Gwangju, and that the companies made the final decision — but he declined to name any candidate locations other than Gwangju when pressed.

The PPP says it needs to verify the full circumstances, but observers say the hearing will be difficult to convene given strong resistance from the ruling party.

Under the National Assembly Act, a hearing on a general policy matter requires a committee vote, making the Democratic Party's cooperation essential.

One scenario would allow PPP members alone to call a hearing by tying it to the review of the so-called Mega Special Zone Act, but that path is also seen as unlikely — the Democratic Party has said it intends to handle that bill through the Policy Committee rather than the trade committee.