The Peninsula

The Case for Active Public Relations and Communications Strategy to Promote Korean Investments

According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the total stock of all foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States increased by USD 227 billion to just under USD 5.4 trillion in 2023. This figure was largely driven by a USD 96 billion increase from Canada, USD 86 billion from Europe, and USD 40 billion from the Asia-Pacific. Of this, the South Korean share was about USD 6.7 billion, bringing its total U.S. FDI to USD 78.2 billion as of 2023. Where did all this investment go? Greenfield investment data in 2023 indicates that Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, South Dakota, and Indiana were among the most preferred destinations for Korean FDI. While the BEA has yet to release the latest figures for 2024, President Donald Trump has welcomed investment pledges from Softbank, TSMC, and Hyundai Motors. What do average Americans think about this development, provided these FDI announcements translate into actual jobs in the United States?

A new KEI report explores this question through a survey conducted in partnership with YouGov between December 2024 and January 2025 with over 1,500 respondents. The sample was taken from a national subset to assess whether there were any differences in attitude among individuals from states with varying and perceived levels of foreign investments. KEI chose ten states for this study: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The findings from the report show that what matters more than the actual investment is the appearance—or perception—and visibility of those investments. Take, for instance, a question where the respondent was first presented with an image of a U.S. factory floor or an “Asian” factory floor with employees who appeared to be of East Asian descent before being asked the following question:

“How supportive are you of removing restrictions on investment opportunities for all companies anywhere in the world?” 1) very unsupportive / 2) somewhat unsupportive / 3) neither unsupportive nor supportive / 4) somewhat supportive / 5) very supportive.

The question aims to encourage the respondent to consider the connection between inbound foreign investment and U.S. jobs and whether this increases support for global investment. The image primer was applied to a control group that was presented with a picture of Hyundai Motors’ assembly plant in South Korea. The treatment group is presented with a picture of Hyundai Motors’ assembly plant in the United States. While the picture of the U.S. plant is intended to get the respondents to think about the implications of foreign investment for job creation in the United States, the picture of the Hyundai plant in South Korea does not suggest anything about jobs in the United States.

Figure 1. Distribution of Attitudes about Global Investment Expansion

“How supportive are you of removing restrictions on investment opportunities for all companies anywhere in the world?” 1) very unsupportive / 2) somewhat unsupportive / 3) neither unsupportive nor supportive / 4) somewhat supportive / 5) very supportive

The report’s findings showed that the visibility of Korean investment and the perception of the investment mattered more than the primer and the actual level of investment when it came to overall support for foreign investments. More specifically, those who view Korea’s investment in their state as high tended to favor fewer restrictions on global investments. This finding was supported by a corresponding regression analysis, which further confirmed the result’s robustness after controlling for demographic differences.

Intuition suggests that increasing foreign investment in any given locale or state would translate into greater support for that investment or the agent of that investment. What the KEI report shows, however, is that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, a silent investment without an active public relations campaign means the public would be uninformed about the economic impact or even the relevance of foreign investment in their communities. This means foreign companies must do more than simply make sizable investments if they want to be recognized for their economic contribution to the communities where they make significant investments. Public relations and communications appear to be an important part of the broader strategy.

 

Read the full report by clicking here.

Dr. Je Heon (James) Kim is the Director of Public Opinion and External Relations at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). Nils Wollesen Osterberg is Economic Policy Associate at KEI. The views expressed here are the authors’ alone.

Nils Wollesen Osterberg is Economic Policy Associate at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). Dr. Je Heon (James) Kim is the Director of Public Opinion and External Relations at KEI. The views expressed here are the authors’ alone.

Photo from The White House Flickr Account.

KEI is registered under the FARA as an agent of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, a public corporation established by the government of the Republic of Korea. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.