Jung Ji-won, next chairman of the GIAK.

Jung Ji-won, chairman of the Korea Exchange, was recommended as the sole candidate for the next chairmanship of the General Insurance Association of Korea (GIAK).

As such, Jung will be virtually appointed as the 54th chairman of the association. Jung is expected to formally take office as chairman on Dec. 21.

The Chairman Candidate Recommendation Committee held its third meeting and recommended Jung as its sole candidate on Nov. 2.

The committee consists of eight members — representatives of six board members (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, DB Insurance, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, Hanwha Insurance, Lotte Insurance, and Korean RE), Jang Dong-han, chairman of the Korea Insurance Academic Society and Sung Joo-ho, chairman of the Risk Management Society.

The committee short listed four candidates - Jung, Kang Young-koo, president of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, Yoo Kwan-woo, former vice chairman of the Financial Supervisory Service and Kim Sung-jin, head of the Public Procurement Service and finally picked out Jung as the final candidate through a vote on the day.

On Nov. 13, the GIAK conducted an anonymous vote on the pros and cons of the appointment of Jung as new chairman by representatives of 15 non-life insurance companies.

According to the results of the vote, the association tabbed Jung Ji-won recommended exclusively by the Chairman Nomination Committee as its next chairman.

Jung is expected to take office as chairman on Dec. 21 after a public official re-employment review by the Public Servant Ethics Committee. Jung’s term of office is three years from the date of his inauguration.

Born in 1962, Jung served as the head of Banking Supervision Division and Supervisory Policy Division the Financial Supervisory Commission, the director of the Financial Services Bureau at Financial Services Service and the president of Korea Securities Finance Corp.

He also served as chairman of the Korea Exchange since November 2017 and his term ended on Nov. 1.

Jung is proficient at practical work and tasks and has a strong network with financial authorities and the financial sector. Jung is also known to have close ties with leaders of the ruling Democratic Party.

“Currently, many difficulties are facing the Korean non-insurance industry,” said an official of the Korean insurance industry.

“These difficulties stemmed from chronic deficits in medical reimbursement insurance and auto insurance, the enhancement of special employment workers’ labor rights and the protection of financial consumers.

We expect new chairman Jung to lead smooth communications between the government and the non-life industry and help the non-life insurance industry grow.”

Meanwhile, the GIAK released a video on a traffic safety campaign in collaboration with Pengsu on its Instagram and YouTube channels on Dec. 4.

The GIAK carried out the traffic safety campaign video project in collaboration with the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

The video is showing via news channels such as Yonhap News TV and YTN and YouTube while garnering much popularity.

The traffic safety campaign with Pengsu’s view of the world as a penguin idol aspirant from Antarctica features Pengsu's long journey from Antarctica to Switzerland to the EBS in Ilsan, Korea.

On the journey, Pengsu has hard days. He was astonished by drivers who speed up without abiding by the speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour in the city, motorbike riders running fast inside an apartment complex and vehicles turning right in an alley without slowing down.

The GIAK posts a video of a traffic safety campaign on the GIAK’s Instagram and YouTube channel on Dec. 4. (Photos: GIAK)

“As drivers’ awareness matters most in ensuring traffic safety, we need to go the extra mile to raise people’s awareness of traffic safety and safe driving,” said an official of the GIAK.

In particular, it is essential to slow down the speed to protect pedestrians so we will put into practice the Safety Speed 5030 policy nationwide starting in April 2021.

The Safety Speed 5030 policy calls for limiting car speed to 50km per hour in urban areas and 30km per hour in residential areas.