Chairman Park Seung-taek of the Federation of Small Businesses(K-BIZ)

Executive Vice Chairman Suh Seung-won of K-BIZ. (Photos: K-BIZ)

The Korea Federation of SMEs (K-BIZ) named Suh Seung-won, former senior professional member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea Policy Committee, as its executive vice chairman, K-BIZ said on Dec. 10. He will serve until Dec. 9, 2021.

The new vice chairman is an economics graduate of Seoul National University. He passed the High Civil Service Examination in 1988 to enter the public service.

Suh rose through a number of key positions at the Small and Medium Business Administration, including the Venture Business Promotion Section Chief, the head of the Reform Personnel Planning Team, and the Startup Venture and the Venture Promotion Bureau Gen. Manager, to name some.

Suh then was promoted to head the Gyeonggi Provincial SME Administration as administrator. He also was the Policy Planner for the SME Venture Bureau before he was assigned to become an expert member of the ruling party’s Policy Committee.

K-biz Chairman Park Seong-taik said the new executive vice chairman has been a career SME policy expert for over 30 years and is has a good communication channel with both the National Assembly and government.

He is the right person to lead K-biz, Park said, at a time when SMEs are faced with tough problems, including the minimum wage guideline and the shortened working hours and other problems that the unions are faced with the least of which is the impact from the U.S.-China trade rift, which is expected to make the business environment worse both at home and abroad.

The small and medium business of the Republic of Korea is the root of our economy and accounts for 99% of the number of enterprises and 88% of the number of employees. It plays a pivotal role in the national economy.

Until now, the Korean SMEs improved its competitiveness and cultivated overseas market through endless technology development and management innovation. As a result, it has established the foundation to develop into the world’s ninth trading nation with trading volume of US$ 1 trillion.

The Kbiz was established in 1962 under the objective to improve the economic status and support equal opportunities for Korean SMEs. We have actively dealt with the rapidly changing global economy through making proposals on governmental policies and seeking various systems, while also providing support so that SMEs can enhance competitiveness.

Also, we supported overseas marketing through participating in foreign exhibitions for SMEs, dispatching overseas business delegations, and providing information concerning FTA. There are about 30 institutions from 17 countries that signed cooperation agreement with us, and we have worked aggressively to enter into overseas market for SMEs through various cooperation projects.

Since the year 2012 is the 50th anniversary of our foundation, the Kbiz will develop and provide field-oriented policies and services based on creativity, passion, and accumulated experience and expertise. Through this, we will strive to improve the global competitiveness of Korean SMEs and ensure our SMEs can do business activities in a better environment.

The participants in a meeting of Minister Sung Yun-mo of the Ministry of Trade,Industry and Energy(Motie) and small business people held on Dec. 4, 2018, clap hands during the meeting in which Minister Sung outlined government policies for SMEs in 2019. (Photo: MOTIE)