Ex-industry minister to head KITA

By Nam Hyun-woo

Kim Young-joo

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) named former Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Kim Young-joo as its new CEO, Friday.

According to KITA, 32 senior members of the association held a meeting in Seoul and selected the former minister as its 29th CEO.

KITA will hold a general meeting Nov. 16 and officially appoint Kim to serve a three-year term.

Kim is an economic bureaucrat who spent most of his career in trade and industry policymaking during the previous Roh Moo-hyun administration from 2003 to 2008. President Moon Jae-in was Roh’s chief of staff.

Kim joined Cheong Wa Dae in 2003 and served as senior secretary for economic affairs, designing the Roh administration’s economic policies. From 2006 to 2007, he served as the head of the Office of Government Policy Coordination.

From 2007 to 2008, Kim served as commerce, industry and energy minister, gaining credit for the signing of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in 2007.

With those experiences, Kim’s reputation is that he has a broad and balanced view on the government’s policies.

If he gets approval, Kim will be the second former industry minister to lead KITA, following Lee Hee-beom, who headed the association from 2006 to 2009 and now is the chief organizer of the PyeongChang Olympic Games, which will take place next February in Gangwon Province.

KITA said it highly recognized Kim’s experience as a former minister, especially his contribution to the ratification of the FTA between Seoul and Washington.

Kim is now a senior adviser at law firm Shin & Kim and an outside director of Doosan E&C.

KITA’s CEO post has been vacant since former CEO Kim In-ho resigned Oct. 24.