Big firms lend support to Park's US trip
President Park Geun-hye smiles while having a breakfast meeting with South Korean business leaders at Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, Wednesday. From left are LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, Park, and Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo. / Yonhap
By Kim Tae-gyu
WASHINGTON ― President Park Geun-hye received full backing from Korea’s business leaders for her first overseas trip as head of state to the United States this week.
“I think that the two most significant accomplishments are that the Park administration has confirmed trust from the United States and Korea’s top business leaders,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday (local time) asking not to be named.
“I encountered so many accounts this week in which I learned how much businesspeople support the President including her flagship plan of developing a creative economy.”
He said that the largest-ever economic delegation composed of 50 leaders of top conglomerates amply demonstrates their support for the new leader.
Indeed, almost all the tycoons of major groups accompanied Park and included in the entourage was Samsung Group head Lee Kun-hee, who accompanied a presidential overseas trip for the first time since 2004.
During a meeting with the economic delegations on Wednesday morning, the first of such a gathering since Park took office, Lee promised to help realize a creative economy.
It refers to Park’s campaign pledge aimed at jacking up economic growth and generating quality jobs through nurturing convergence industries and venture start-ups.
“A creative economy is a policy that will lead the Korean economy in the right direction. To achieve this goal, science and software are more significant than others,” Lee said.
“Samsung will take the lead in realizing the tangible results of a creative economy and maximizing investment and job-creation with the aim of beefing up our economy.”
Following the comments, which surprised even his close aides because they did not know the 71-year-old would make the remarks, Samsung will actually throw its weight behind a creative economy by jacking up its investment.
Originally, the country’s foremost group planned to invest around 48 trillion won in 2013 but it is mulling over raising this amount to 50 trillion won. It is also known that Samsung will make public its action plans soon on how a creative economy can be achieved.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo and LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo also came up with similar remarks with firm commitment to a creative economy.
“The meeting with businesspeople was held in a really good atmosphere ― she received lengthy standing ovations twice at the start and end of the event,” the official said.
“There were concerns that President Park is not friendly to big companies because she has stressed the significance of smaller enterprises and fair competition. But the U.S. visit seems to have reduced such concerns among businesspeople.”
President Park moved to Los Angeles late Wednesday to hold a conference with successful Korea-American entrepreneurs there to benchmark high-tech firms in the Silicon Valley, which Park thinks is a model example of a creative economy.