Biz leaders discuss possible investments

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, right, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, second from right, talk with Ri Ryong-nam, left, deputy prime minister of North Korea in Pyongyang, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps

By Baek Byung-yeul, Joint Press Corps

SEOUL / PYONGYANG -- The heads of top businesses groups, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, expressed their hope Tuesday of building trust with North Korea in a meeting with senior officials in charge of economic affairs in the North.

Seventeen chaebol owners arrived in Pyongyang earlier in the day as part of President Moon Jae-in’s delegation accompanying him for his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The business leaders met with Ri Ryong-nam, North Korea’s deputy prime minister of the economy, according to pool reports from Korean journalists in Pyongyang.

Introducing himself as “Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong,” the Samsung vice chairman said he hoped that the meeting would become a chance to built trust.

“This is my first time in Pyongang. I found an inscription on the wall of a newly built building near Pyongyang Station that reads ‘to devote to science and talent.’ Samsung’s basic business philosophy is ‘to devote its technology and talent,’” Lee said.

“While I have travelled all over the world, I have never seen such an inscription written in Hangul before. This is my first time to see this kind of message in Hangul and I just felt that we are all Koreans.”

In response, Ri said he “hoped Lee would be a famous man who helped peace, prosperity and unification.”

Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun also said she wanted economic cooperation between the two Koreas to resume as soon as possible.

As the operator of a now-suspended tourism project, Hyundai had run a program to Mount Geumgang from 1998, but the tour was halted in 2009 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a South Korean tourist for wandering into an off-limits area.

The deputy prime minister said he hoped “Hyun’s business will go well.”

While business leaders from the South accompanying President Moon introduced themselves and discussed possible economic cooperation between the two Koreas, Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) President Oh Young-sik came up with the subject of refurbishing railways so that they run the entire length of the Korean Peninsula.

“We came to Pyongyang by airplane. As a president of KORAIL, I should have come here by train,” he joked. “I would like to have railway systems on the Korean peninsula after achieving improvements in inter-Korean relations.”

During President Moon’s first summit with Kim, April 27, the two agreed to adopt practical steps toward the connection and modernization of the North’s railways and roads to promote balanced economic growth and co-prosperity.

Ri said he also wants to see improvements in the railways, saying, “railway cooperation is the biggest and most important part of inter-Korean relations.”

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said he could see a lot of improvement compared to his first visit in 2007. “I came here in 2007, and now after 11 years I can see a lot of improvements.”

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo also expressed his gratitude to have such an opportunity. “LG is a group doing businesses in electronics, chemicals and telecommunications. I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity,” Koo said.