Chairman Kim Young-joo of the Korea International Trade Association, said he will fight the wave of new protectionism in international trade with positive counter measures.
During his media interview on Nov. 16 at Coex inter-Continental Hotel in Samsung-dong, Seoul, the new KITA chairman said the FTA between Korea and the U.S. has been mutually beneficial, but has become a target for renegotiations for no reason. He was named as the 29th chairman at the board’s meeting for KITA recently.
A career government official, he led the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy from 2007-2008 managing the parliamentary approval for the FTA between Korea and the U.S., and has been credited for reflecting what industry and business firms want in the FTA with the U.S.
He is widely considered to be the right person to head KITA at a time when such problems are looming, led by President Trump and other trade issues.
The new KITA chairman stressed that the FTA between Korea and the U.S. helped the trade soar between the two signatory countries. Korea has been able to widen its trade surplus with the U.S., but Korea also tripled investments in the U.S.
A key objective in the renegotiation is to make it more mutually beneficial, making sure that the voices of industry and business firms are reflected in the process of renegotiation talks in cooperation with Assistant Minister Kim Hyun-jong, chief negotiator, who is leading the renegotiation talks with the U.S.
He reiterated that he will fight the trade protectionist policies pushed by the Trump administration.
He said trade problems exist around the world with the Trump administration building new trade protectionist walls centered around U.S. interests, and he means to fight the new trade protectionism using his overseas network on the side of civilians.
He also said he will steer KITA to find new markets for Korean firms, as there isn’t much room for growth in the domestic market due to the aging population and low birth rates, especially for SMEs and startups. The KITA chairman said he will provide diversified strategies to enter the global market, including the “next China” strategy to find new markets in ASEAN member nations, including Vietnam. India is among the list of the countries that deserves to be explored by Korean products and services under the “next China” strategy, he said.
He also showed his resolve to make KITA play a bridge role between the government, the National Assembly and some 70,000 member firms of KITA, which would make Korea an “optimum” country to do business.
KITA announced that its chairman Kim In-ho and U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce adopted a joint statement on Aug. 29 during the latter’s visit to South Korea.
According to the joint statement, the U.S. and South Korean business communities are to work more closely with each other in the interest of job creation, economic growth, investment, trade, etc. In addition, they are to expand their cooperative relations in business, trade, investment and so on to contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
The adoption of the joint statement was followed by a dinner reception in Seoul, which was attended by National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee Chairman Shim Jae-kwon, 90 or so South Korean entrepreneurs, Chairman Ed Royce and U.S. lawmakers who visited South Korea with him, including Korea Caucus Co-chair Ami Bera, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Chairman Ted Yoho, and Brad Schneider, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
They visited South Korea on Aug. 27 to discuss major pending issues such as security in the Korean Peninsula and KORUS FTA renegotiation. In addition, Chairman Ed Royce and Congressman Ami Bera visited the main offices of the CJ Group and the SPC Group, which made an investment in California as their local constituency.
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