i will give some insider knowledge on how mnc manufacturing plant usually run their production line. Since this subject come out. And i will debunk some myth as well.

First is planning, what machines to use, number of people in single line, what processes can be automated, production rate, how many lines i needed and parts sourcing. All this is done in samsung original manufacturing plant in Korea.
After the planing is done. Time to test and measure the real production rate. What better way to do it than actually manufacturing the Galaxy Note 2 itself. So this are the first batch or in industrial term commonly called initial test batch.

So those, who are so proud of so called made in korea 1st batch. Your units could be from the test batch which can be worse in quality compared to subsequent batch made in korea or china. This is because, while running the test, the production line still need fine tuning like the machine settings, ways to make it more efficient, internal parts may also not up to standard due to rush production. Then you would ask, why they will still release that batch when the quality is hit and miss? Simple, which company want to destroy a perfectly assembled product, the most they will just repair the faulty parts and send it out again. It a company, profit>customer.

after everything is fine tuned and certificated it up to standards. The production line plan is shipped out to those OEM assembler like in China. The OEM assembler may follow the plan or modified it to mainly to improve it. So the whole cycle start again, Production layout -> Test production -> Initial Test Batch -> Actual Production.

So what set apart those devices manufactured in china or korea. Is QC or Quality Control. Made in Korea, you can be assured that the final quality inspector is from Samsung. While Made in China is the OEM assembler own Quality inspector. Of course, Samsung quality checker > oem one, but depends since most of them are trained by Samsung 1st on how to spot defects etc etc

To make sure quality is up to standards, Samsung just take a few sample from a batch and subject it to random tests. Do note, to check each and every single GN2 is ridiculous and time consuming plus expensive. This done for both in Samsung original Korea manufacturing plant and from the oem assembler. The disadvantage of this sampling method is again hit and miss. Some bad one may slip through inspection and landed on your hand.