Former Ambassador to Kuwait Kim Kyung-sik took office as the president of Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL) on July 13.
Born in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, the new KCL president graduated from Seoul National University Economics Department and obtained a master’s degree in the study of public administration from Harvard University.
Kim passed the 24th class of higher administrative examination. Before he was appointed as Korean ambassador in Kuwait in 2011, he held such positions as the director in charge of industry policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE); the director general of the Industry Technology Bureau at MOTIE; deputy MOTIE minister in charge of planning and coordination; and the deputy MOTIE minister in charge of trade and investment.
Established by the merger of the Korea Institute of Construction Materials (KICM) and Korea Environment & Merchandise Testing Institute (KEMTI) on July 8, 2010, Korea KCL is the best testing and certification organization in Korea.
The KCL takes responsibility for the competitiveness of enterprises and the safety of consumers by providing testing and inspection services for construction materials, consumer products, energy and environment, which have been accumulated over the past half a century.
Moreover, the KCL is enhancing high technically skilled businesses, such as establishing test and certification infrastructure through analysis in the areas of renewable energies, bio and nanotechnology, medical devices, safety, etc., while accelerating foreign market entry by mutual recognition projects of test certificates with the Middle East, China and Mongolia.
Introducing of ‘Global KCL Era’
In an inaugural speech, the KCL President Kim said KCL will push in exploring foreign markets to create added-value testing and certification projects.
“The Korean testing and certification market is already in a situation of saturation, being a kind of ‘red ocean’ that makes it difficult to create resources of new income,” he said.
In particular, global prominent testing and certification institutions’ entry into the Korean market is more aggressive than at any time before, and in line with global trends of eliminating trade technology barriers through FTAs. “In such a hard situation, it is compulsory, not selective to make inroads into foreign testing and certification markets for our institution’s continued growth,” he added.
KCL President Kim said he will make concerted efforts to tap new overseas testing and certification markets by cashing in on the expertise KCL has accumulated in establishing an independent testing and certification laboratory in Qingdao, China, and testing and certification infrastructure for evaluating energy efficiency of buildings in Saudi Arabia. KCL plans to consider market entry through M&As of foreign testing and certification institutions while forging strategic alliances with such prominent institutions as UL and TUV, he said. KCL’s overseas market exploration is in line with the direction of national policies regarding the Korean testing and certification industry, Kim said.
KCL President Kim urged his executives and staff members to upgrade KCL’s competitiveness by implementing performance-based management.
Kim noted that the Korean testing and certification market faces cut-throat competition as business boundaries among testing and certification institutions similar to KCL are eliminated, and smaller testing and certification labs have sprung up, threatening to erode profits in the conventional businesses arenas. He stressed performance-based management to overcome such a crisis. The KCL will concentrate its operational resources and capacity on profit-making departments and non-profitable departments will be slimmed down. Surplus manpower will be transferred to business departments and creative manpower will have to be secured to tap new markets based on expertise, he noted.
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