Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Major conglomerates remain undecided on FKI membership dues
A signboard of the Federation of Korean Industries is seen in front of its headquarters in Seoul in this file photo. Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
Hyundai becomes 1st biz group to resume payment
Korea's major conglomerates have yet to decide whether to pay membership fees to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) — once considered the nation's most influential business lobby, according to industry officials, Monday.
The FKI is on track to restore its reputation after undergoing a management crisis in 2017 for its involvement in a collusive alliance with then-President Park Geun-hye and her administration. Then-deteriorating public sentiment drove the nation's four conglomerates — Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor and LG — to withdraw their membership from the FKI.
The four big firms rejoined the business lobby last year, but most remained hesitant to resume paying the membership dues.
Hyundai Motor Group became the first to resume paying the FKI's annual membership fee worth 3.5 billion won ($2.52 million). The four companies are classified as first-tier members of the FKI, so they are chargest the largest membership fees out of some 420 member companies of the business lobby.
SK Group is likely to become the second, as the company is known to be in an advanced level of internal discussion, even though a specific timeline for when it will pay the membership fee has not been fixed yet.
"We are in an internal review," an official from the company said, declining to elaborate.
However, it will take more time for Samsung Group and LG Group to follow suit.
Samsung Group's compliance committee said Monday the company remained undecided about following in the footsteps as Hyundai Motor Group.
"Our committee members raised doubts over whether the FKI conducted thorough personnel reforms, so as for the business lobby to cut the back-scratching alliance with the government," Lee Chan-hee, the chairman of the group's compliance committee, told reporters.
LG Group is also carrying out internal talks before paying for its FKI membership, but nothing specific has been confirmed.
"We are conducting an internal discussion on whether to resume paying the fee, but have not reached any internal consensus for the time being," its official said.