Vice Minister for Industry and Technology Kim Jae-hong speaks at a meeting with representative 

of the Korean design industry at the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) building in Bundang, south of Seoul, 

on Jan. 21 as KIDP President Lee Tae-yong looks on.(photos: courtesy of KIDP, article by S. Y. Kim)

Vice Minister for Industry and Technology Kim Jae-hong met with representatives of the Korean design industry at the Korea Institute of Design Promotion building in Bundang, south of Seoul, on Jan. 21. They pledged their determination to nurture design as a core sector of the creative economy by enhancing design capabilities and contributing to enhancing industrial added values by converging design and other industries. Among the participants were Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President Kim Young-joon, LG Electronics Vice President Lee Chul-bae, and Korea Design Firms Association Chairman Kim Sung-chun.   

Vice Minister Kim, in his speech at the meeting, stressed the significance of design, saying that wearable devices, public safety and health robots, and other core projects for the realization of the creative economy will dramatically increase in use due to their user-oriented approach when they are converged with design. 

The industry representatives, complaining about unfair trade of design contracts and infringement into design rights, demanded institutional tools to reinvigorate the design industry, including the establishment of design rights and royalties systems. 

(left) Vice Minister for Industry and Technology Kim and KIDP President Lee each deliver

 a speech at a New Year’s gathering of the design community. 

In response, Vice Minister Kim said an expert task force will be formed to review and overhaul the design service trade of the public sector and design rights systems. Kim went on to say that his ministry will consider introducing new systems related to design royalties and design and designer certification, proposed by the design industry.

Vice Minister Kim also enumerated the top three tasks of the design industry — enhancing design competitiveness, the converging of design and other industries, and upgrading undervalued design — at the New Year’s gathering with representatives of the Korean design industry.

Among those on hand at the gathering were MOTIE Vice Minister Kim of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), Korea Institute of Design Promotion President Lee Tae-yong, and Chairman Rhy Myung-sik of the Korean Federation of Design Associations.