Chairman & President Moon Jae-do of Korea Export Insurance Corp. (K-sure) toured Beijing 10 days after he took the helm of the trade support organization in March to look into the damage Korean companies sustained in the wake of China’s retaliatory steps against the U.S. Terminal Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) self-defense missile system in Korea.
Following his inspection tour, K-sure President Moon came up with steps to help Korean companies cope with difficulties they have experienced due to China’s retaliatory actions. Buffeted mid-size companies and SMEs have been given a preferential treatment with a 2.5-fold jump in trade insurance coverage limit and a 60 percent discount in trade insurance premiums when they enter emerging markets. Fees for trade insurance guaranties were halved for cash-strapped companies.
“My inspection tour of China has confirmed that the damages our companies have suffered are severe,” he said. President Moon stressed the diversification of export markets as the most realistic option to cope with China’s retaliatory actions.
In meetings with staff members, he has preached his management tenets, dubbed “Shin Shin,” stressing an entry into five emerging markets, including the Middle East, Africa, Central and Southern America, and former CIS countries and the nurturing of three new industries consumer goods, agro-fisheries products, and service industries.
K-sure plans to implement a project to foster 10,000 companies into exporters. The project calls for extending $20,000 to each exporter through an “export safety net insurance” for a combined $200 million. It is designed to make mid-size companies and SMEs next-generation export engines, said President Moon, adding that the successful exporting on the part of companies with no export records will likely contribute to the fundamentals of the Korean economy.
President Moon’s thoughts are now on the premium car brand Rolls-Royce. He wants to take its cue from the brand’s craftsmanship into reflecting specific options corresponding to clients’ preferred tastes, making sure the employing of strategies tailored to meet consumer clients’ needs, departing from the current supplier-oriented method of mass producing standardized items.
He wants to revamp export insurance regimes so that exporters can choose specialized options according to their export transactions.
The international project market is in a position to “wage a war with silent shots,” said President Moon, adding that Korea is still a far cry from advanced countries, armed with proprietary technologies and excellent financial resources capabilities.
He stressed many that export support institutions will have to do more, recalling a bitter lesson he learned from the botched bid to win a nuclear power project from Turkey while heading a Korean delegation.
K-sure suffered a setback in credibility in the wake of Monual’s trade insurance cheating revelations. He inaugurated a task force to prevent the repetition of such mistakes and ensure risk management. The measure paid off: K-sure’s risk management system discovered that a semiconductor company had been cheating on trade insurance worth 400 billion won.
Regarding the public criticism of recent policy finance mismanagement, President Moon stressed the importance of innovation, pledging to make K-sure a trustworthy corporation, not a “divine workplace” ridden with vested rights.
President Moon ended his public office career by stepping down as 2nd vice minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) in January 2016. Moon, fluent in foreign languages and armed with expertise, proved his trade negotiation capabilities during his foreign counterparts with MOTIE. Moon, then director in charge of transportation and machinery at MOTIE, played a leading role in successfully solving a shipbuilding subsidy issue between Korea and EU.
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