“Bumchun Precision will be constructing its first plant outside South Korea here in Hungary with an investment of HUF 13.3 bln (EUR 40.8 million),” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday, according to official government website kormany.hu.

Szijjártó noted that the value of the investment is increased by the expectation that automotive industry growth will be determined by the development of electric drive systems in the coming decades.

“South Korea is the world’s second largest exporter with relation to e-mobility and Korean enterprises are the market leaders in all of the related fields, and for this reason the marked development of economic relations between the two countries is also expected to mean success for Hungary,” the minister stressed.

Szijjártó welcomed the fact that on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hungary and South Korea, bilateral trade flow between the two countries increased by 41% during the first four months of this year, with some HUF 350 bln in Korean investment already having arrived in Hungary since the beginning of the year.

“This is the first year in the history of the investment promotion system in which the most investment didn’t come from Germany, but from South Korea,” he noted.

Calling Hungary the “Mecca of European car production,” Bumchun Precision President Ri Ki Jeon justified the choice of location by noting that the local workforce is well-trained, the city’s industrial infrastructure is highly developed, and the geographical location provides favorable logistics conditions, kormany.hu reported.

Bumchun Precision’s subsidiary in Salgótarján was registered last year. The South Korean company was founded in 1982, and in addition to producing and developing parts for electronic equipment and mobile phones, it also became involved in the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles a few years ago.