Delta Air Lines recently hosted a warm and wonderful event at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, Georgia to celebrate their new direct flight to Seoul, Korea. The president of Delta, Glen Hauenstein, Mayor Kasim Reed, and our chief operating officer, Bert Brantley were in attendance to say a few words in regards to the many country connections Georgia shares with Korea. Authentic Korean food and dancing were enjoyed by guests while the company’s rich aerospace history in Georgia was on full display.

That weekend Governor Deal, representatives from the Georgia Department of Economic Development and key partners were aboard the inaugural flight to Seoul. In addition to meeting executives from Georgia-based Kia and Hyundai, the delegation held several prospect meetings to further develop our close bond with Korea.

Here are some interesting facts about our connection with Korea:

• The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea is located in Atlanta and serves Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

• The state of Georgia has had continuous representation in Korea since 1985.

• Atlanta is home to the Southeast U.S. Korean Chamber of Commerce, Korean American Chamber of Commerce and the Korean American Coalition.

• Three Georgia communities have sister city agreements with South Korea: Atlanta – Daegu; Cobb County – Seongdong-Gu; and Gwinnett County -Gangnam-Gu.

• The University System of Georgia offers 18 study abroad programs to South Korea in programs such as language, engineering, computing, modern languages and education.

• In 2012, the Georgia Department of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education to promote the sharing of best practices between charter schools.

• In 2016, Georgia exports to Korea totaled $984.3 million. Korea is currently the 8th largest export market for Georgia.

• In 2016, Georgia imports from Korea totaled $6.2 billion. Korea ranks 4th among Georgia’s importer nations.

• Georgia is home to at least 75 Korean facilities, of which at least 28 are manufacturing locations. These Korean-affiliated companies currently employ over 10,000 Georgians.

• The Georgia Ports Authority in Savannah has an established relationship with ports of Korea and offers six weekly shipping services to the Port of Busan. GPA’s Brunswick Port also offers fortnightly shipping services to Incheon, Masan, Pyongtaek and Kunsan.

As you can see, Georgia has close ties with Korea. Coupled with the fact that over 14,000 South Korean visitors travel to Georgia each year, and more than 1.78 million Koreans visit the United States each year, there was good reason for this new direct flight to join Korean Air’s existing services.

From the Georgia Department of Economic Development