Korea Trade Insurance Corp. celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 6 at its head office in Seorin-dong, downtown Seoul, with a slew of dignitaries attending led by Minister Hong Suk-woo of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and hundreds of officers and staff of the company including Chairman and President Cho Kye-ryoong.

Minister Hong gave a congratulatory speech and Chairman Cho gave a commemorative speech at the ceremony and presented the ministerial citations to 12 officers and staff of the company for their meritorious service and five leaders of customer firms and organizations for their having been exemplary customers.

Minister Hong said that K-sure did a great job during the global financial crisis in helping exporters by expanding its support to them so that they were able to overcome the crisis the fastest among OECD member countries and put Korea among the top 10 export countries in the world. He urged the trade insurance firm to continue to do its job well to safeguard the base for $1 trillion in international trade and lead it forward to reach $2 trillion in the near future. 

Chairman Cho said that K-sure played a key role in Korean traders overcoming the foreign exchange and the global financial crises while doing its best to help exporters boost their exports by exploring new markets overseas to open the age of $1 trillion in foreign trade for Korea over the past two decades of its operation. He called on the entire body of officers and staff to unite as one and work for advancing the age of $2 trillion in foreign trade for Korea in the near future, giving hope to the people and being loved by them in return.

He also pointed out that there are also tough problems ahead facing the Korean economy, including the European debt crisis and uncertainty in the world economy. “K-sure will make sure to maintain the base for $1 trillion in foreign trade and be a stepping stone for boosting the nation’s foreign trade to reach $2 trillion in the near future with a new paradigm of foreign trade for Korea,” Cho said. 

Cho announced “Smart K-sure” as the title of its new vision of hope for trade and new overseas investment. The new vision signifies K-sure’s timely provision of solutions tailor-made to traders’ needs so that they can depend on K-sure as a hopeful partner. In order to realize the vision, K-sure will first help exporters find new emerging markets for their products and expand their overseas markets.

K-sure will target Africa and Central and South America as the ‘next China’ to help exporters find new markets for their products, as the new ‘normal’ of low growth and high unemployment has gripped the world economy triggered by the financial crisis in 2008.

Cho said K-sure will increase the insurance coverage allocation for the strategy to explore emerging markets from 23 trillion won last year to 45 trillion won by 2013 and expand its ‘Mobile K’ office now concentrated in Africa to other new market regions. K-sure will increase its support to SMEs to expand their exports and globalize their operations as much as it can.

The trade insurance company also has decided to increase the number of member firms of the Trade Champs Club (TCC) from 51 to 121 this year along with the expansion of insurance support for club members from 3.3 trillion won to 5 trillion won, a 50 percent rise.

K-sure has decided that professional global SME exporters are crucial on the way to achieving $2 trillion in foreign trade for Korea, which is why the TCC was formed based on an idea initiated by Chairman Cho when he first took over the helm of K-sure.

K-sure has been providing tailor-made support to TCC member firms including favorable insurance allocation, support for insurance and fees, and consultations.

In the meantime, K-sure and Shihan Bank signed an agreement to cooperate on providing financial support worth 1 trillion won to SME plant exporters on July 16 at Plaza Hotel in downtown Seoul. The two firms will join hands to support SMEs or subcontractors in getting the issuance of guarantee to complete their assigned projects from large contractors. K-sure will issue the certificates and Shinhan bank will issue the completion guarantees for subcontractors with the K-sure’s certificates as pledges.

K-sure started as KEIC in 1992 and in 2010 changed its name to K-sure to reflect the main job of the company, which included investment in addition to trade in its insurance coverage. The company started with 1.8 trillion won in insurance support, but it has grown to 192 trillion won in two decades of operation, one-fourth of Korea’s total exports.