Musk had made the remark in a video call with President Yoon Suk-yeol, adding that the company planned to step up cooperation with South Korea on supply chains, Yoon's office said.
As Yoon was aware of Tesla's plans to build a factory in Asia in the future, his office said, Yoon asked Musk to build the factory in South Korea.
In response, Musk said he considered South Korea to be one of the top candidates and would make the decision after reviewing investment conditions in other countries, including labour quality, technology level and production infrastructure.
"We expect to buy components worth more than $10 billion from South Korean firms in 2023 as we significantly expand supply chain cooperation with South Korean companies," Yoon's office quoted Musk as saying.
Yoon said in the discussion he would reform unreasonable regulations that hindered investment by global tech companies, according to Yoon's office.