President Park Geun-hye and business leaders attend a New Year's gathering, 

hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry at the COEx in Seoul on Jan. 6. 

Among the participants are Saenuri Party floor leader Choi Kyung-hwan,;

 Rep. Chung Mong-joon, and rep. Oh Jae-sae, chairman of the Ntional Assembly Health and Welfare Committee,; 

and other representatives from the political and economic circles, 

including KCCI Chairman Park Yong-mann; Chairman Huh Chang-soo of 

the Federation of Korean Industries; Chairman Chung Mong-koo of Hyundai Motor Group; 

SK Group Chairman Kim Chang-keun; Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin;

 Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho; LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-yeol; 

Kumho-Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo; and Hyundai Group Chairman Hyun Jung-eun.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) hosted a New Year’s gathering of business leaders at the COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on Jan. 6, during which the participants pledged to revive senior businessmen’s entrepreneurship in an advanced  fashion to turn around the national economy.

Among the roughly 1,500 people on hand at the event were President Park Geun-hye;  Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Strategy and Finance Hyun Oh-seok,; Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick,; and Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Moon-ki. Among the business leaders on hand were KCCI Chairman Park Yong-mann; Chairman Huh Chang-soo of the Federation of Korean Industries; Chairman Chung Mong-koo of Hyundai Motor Group;  Samsung Vice Chairman Kang Ho-moon,; SK Group Chairman Kim Chang-keun; Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin; Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho; LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-yeol; Kumho-Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo; and Hyundai Group Chairman Hyun Jung-eun.

President Park exchanged greetings with business leaders and urged them to make concerted efforts to nurture domestic service industries. In return, the business leaders pledged to boost investments and exports. 

KCCI Chairman Pak said in his speech, “Let’s revive senior businessmen’s entrepreneurship in an advanced fashion so that the national economy can be put into a full-fledged state of recovery and spearhead efforts to resuscitate the national economy to make the nation wealthy and happy.” He expressed the hope that 2014 will be a year that blossoms into a full-fledged era of harmony and cooperation in all fields including economics, politics, and society.

Park went on to say that all businessmen will consider 2014 as the last chance to plan and translate into action preparations for an economic recovery.”

President Park said that business and government should make concerted efforts to do away with the trend of low growth by picking up the pace of economic recovery, which has been attainted with difficulty. She said, “The government will accelerate its bid to make a better business-friendly environment unmatched by any other country.”

President Park urged the participating businessmen to take the lead in the creation of jobs. “The government will devote itself to creating an environment in which youth and women can engage in work and study and work and housework at the same time, respectively, and ultimately, it is up to you,“ President Park said amidst the applause. 

FKI Chairman Huh extended words of encouragement to businessmen for their contribution to achieving the Triple Crown — posting more than 1 trillion won in trade for the third year in a row, a record high of the value of exports, and a record high trade surplus. 

Chairman Kim Ki-mun of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses gave thanks to President Park for her support for revising the Act on Facilitating Foreign Direct Investments and establishing a foundation for competition between large- and small-sized companies.