KBIZ Chmn. Kim Reelected for 4th Term

Chairman Kim Ki-moon of the Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) receives a certificate of election after he was reelected for his fourth term at the 61st General Meeting at KBIZ headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Feb. 28.

Chairman Kim Ki-moon of the Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) was reelected for a fourth term.

The new term ends in February 2027.

KBIZ said on Feb. 28 that it had convened the 61st General Meeting and elected incumbent KBIZ Chairman Kim Ki-moon as the 27th chairman.

KBIZ said on Feb. 7 that the Election Management Committee wrapped up the registration of candidates for KBIZ’s 27th chairman, and current KBIZ Chairman Kim was the sole person to submit his candidacy.

Three hundred and sixty members participated in the general meeting and unanimously elected Chairman Kim.

Kim heads KBIZ for his fourth term. He had served as KBIZ’s 23rd and 24th chairman between 2007 and 2014. He has been serving as 26th chairman since 2019.

During the general meeting, KBIZ also approved its business plan for the year 2023 and the budget of accounts, and elected five non-standing vice chairmen and 19 non-standing directors.

Meanwhile, KBIZ also held a ceremony to present prizes to cooperatives which have contributed to their development.

In his acceptance speech following reelection, Chairman Kim said, “The reelection is owed to members who have believed in efforts I’ve made for the current four-year term and past eight years, and I’ll work harder once more for the benefit of SMEs and cooperatives so that I can repay for the belief.”

Chairman Kim made public pledges during his campaign, such as making SMEs global specialized companies, making cooperatives platforms for SME growth, and making KBIZ a policy support powerhouse.

Chairman Kim said he would make good on implementing the public pledges by maintaining his initial thoughts and conviction and facilitating communication with members.

“CEOs aged 70 or more number 20,000, and 76 percent of CEOs cite the tax burden as the biggest issue hindering family business recession,” Chairman Kim said earlier.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance decided to reflect the long-standing matters related to family business recession in a tax revision plan for next year, he said.

“The stark reality is that CEOs have toiled to make their companies successful, but they cannot inherit them to their offspring due to a lack of money to pay taxes,” Chairman Kim said.

“As baby boomers are becoming elderly, CEOs aged 70 or more are expected to surge to 100,000-200,000,” he added.

“In a word, companies may be considered social assets,” Chairman Kim said. “Japan has 30,00 to 40,000 companies aged 100 years or more, but in Korea, long-standing companies find it hard to live longer due to hardships related to family business succession,” he said.

Chairman Kim Ki-moon poses with Japanese lawmakers, including Toshihiro Nikai following their talks of boosting bilateral relations at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on March 16. (Photos: KBIZ)

For instance, it’s a dilemma that worker’s pay is required to be retained for 10 years following a family business succession despite faster automation, such as smart factories.

Chairman Kim said, “International raw material price hikes, caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and global supply chain crises, are threatening SMEs’ management.”

KBIZ proposed four policy takes to overcome multiple crises at the Leaders’ Forum, hosted by KBIZ in Jeju in September 2022.

The first of the tasks involves legislation of an act requiring subcontractors’ prices indexing raw material price hikes.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Fair Trade Commission are implementing a pilot project related to subcontractors’ prices indexing raw materials price hikes.

KBIZ Chairman Kim stressed the revamping of an immigrant worker quota system and the 52-hour work week system, being operated in an inflexible way.

KBIZ, established in 1962, marks its 61st anniversary this year. Sixty-one years ago, Korea was much poorer. Mothers cut their long hair, and daughters made wigs made with that hair for export.

Korea started to pry open foreign markets with exports of GoldStar TVs and Pony cars. It has now been catapulted to the global No. 8 trade powerhouse by exports, producing such things as smartphones and semiconductors.