Chairman Kim Ki-mun of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (K-biz) gestures after he was elected for a 3rd term as the 26th chairman of the K-biz at the 57th plenary session of the K-biz on Feb. 28

Newly elected Chairman Kim Ki-mun of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses (K-biz) said he’s saddled with tasks such as extraordinary steps needed to overcome the crisis SMEs are faced with.
Upon his election as K-biz chairman, Kim stressed the stark reality of SMEs and small merchants suffering difficulties.

“SMEs and small merchants are faced with the harshest economic difficulties, and they are in a defenseless state,” he said. Chairman Kim said K-biz should take extraordinary steps to tide over the difficulties.

His remarks may be construed as his determination to address pending issues as a raise in the minimum wage and capping the work week at 52 hours. The 52-hour work week is to go into effect next Jan.

1 for SMEs employing more than 50 workers and less than 300 employees. The reality is that few SMEs are prepared for the implementation of the shorter working week. He also called for harmony and solidarity among member companies of the K-biz as steps to allay discord and division stemming from the election.

Chairman Kim, concurrently J. ESTINA chairman, was elected for a third term as the 26th chairman of K-biz at the 57th plenary session at the K-biz headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Feb. 28. Kim defeated candidate Lee Jae-han with a 55.5 percent share in two rounds of voting.

It was in 2007 that he was elected as the 23rd chairman of the K-biz. H got reelection as the 24th chairman. Chairman Kim’s latest four-year term ends on the end of February 2023.

Chairman Kim’s comeback four years later is unprecedented in K-biz’s history. The former first K-biz chairman Lee Gu-jong served for a third straight term, and took office as 5th chairman.

Chairman Kim is the first K-biz chairman to be reelected through voting. His comeback means that the SME and small merchant communities have a greater expectation on the newly elected chairman.

The chairman, once dubbed “Deputy Section Chief Kim” for his detailed approach to handing day-to-day operations, had lent an ear to the voices at the sites for his previous eights in office.

During his term, the SME community’s attitude toward Chairman Kim turned to a positive one as he had walked the walk by tackling pending issues one by one.

To name a few achievements from his previous terms, there was the construction of the DMC Tower for SMEs in Sangam-dong, Seoul; the inauguration of the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund, designed to brace for disclosures of SMEs and small merchants’ businesses; and the establishmen

t of Home & Shopping, an online channel designed to facilitate the marketing of items produced by SMEs.

He took issue with the “three no policy” – unfair trading, market unbalance, and institutional irrationality, laying foundation to the inauguration of the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership and the implementation of a system of designating business categories in which large-sized companies are banned from entering for the interests of SMEs.

K-biz Chairman Kim waves the flag of K-biz after he won his reelection for a 3rd term. (Photos: K-biz)