Mudslinging rampant in K-Biz chief election
Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul. Korea Times file
By Nam Hyun-woo
K-Biz Chairman Park Sung-taek
The looming election for the chairmanship of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (K-Biz) is plagued with mudslinging between candidates, according to industry officials Friday.
Due to the job's influence in representing 3.5 million SMEs nationwide and its hefty privileges, this year's election, slated for Feb. 28, is expected to follow in the footsteps of previous elections, which ended up in legal battles between candidates, they said.
According to the National Election Commission, it recently filed a complaint with the prosecution against an individual who sent text messages containing false information to K-Biz members in order to support a would-be candidate.
In the text, the accused claimed the candidate's support surpassed 50 percent in December, which is false, an official at the commission said. The commission is supervising the election on behalf of K-Biz.
Besides this, the election commission has already received multiple petitions from candidates, asking for the commission to address allegations against them.
One of the petitions was filed by fashion accessories firm J. Estina Chairman Kim Ki-mun, who is the predecessor of current K-Biz Chairman Park Sung-taek and a heavyweight candidate in this year's election.
Kim requested the commission to address an allegation that his receiving of 2.7 billion won while serving in the unpaid position was inappropriate.
Though the K-Biz chairman does not receive a monthly salary, he or she can collect a significant sum in return for serving as the board chairman of Home & Shopping, a mid-size home shopping channel whose largest stakeholder is K-Biz. Reportedly, the current chairman received 700 million won.
Also, the chairman is given a 10 million won monthly stipend for expenses, as well as a company credit card. As the head of one of the country's five major business associations, the chairman is also granted with the privileges of the deputy prime minster.
“Along with the honor and influence of representing 3.5 million SMEs, the privilege and benefits following the job seems to be making candidates stage excessive battles, going as far as smear campaigns,” an official at a K-Biz member company said.
Over the appropriateness of the benefits given to the chairman, a K-Biz official said “other business associations are showing similar practices,” and there is no illegality involved.
“The current Chairman Park is trying to scale down the benefits given to the chairman, by not receiving the corporate credit card,” the official said.
Outgoing chairman Park is still in a legal battle over an allegation that he allegedly bribed voters to win the post in 2015.
In this year's election, six, including Kim, are referred to as heavyweight candidates. The vote will be held among 589 leaders of smaller business associations.