FKI to establish hall of fame for businesspeople

Kim Byong-joon, the newly appointed acting chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), speaks of the changes set to take place during a press conference held at the FKI building in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of FKI

By Kim Hyun-bin

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), Korea's largest private economic organization, announced plans to establish a hall of fame dedicated to Korea's leading businessmen, and a special exhibition space highlighting industries that have served as the basis for economic development, during a regular general meeting, Thursday.

The FKI is also reviewing ways to transform its affiliated economic research institute, the Korea Economic Research Institute, into a global-level think tank focusing on publishing reports and promoting economic education and human resource development as key projects.

The business lobby group is also considering establishing a business roundtable, a consultative body on global issues composed of the CEOs of major conglomerates. The main functions of the business roundtable are to discuss or implement joint responses in the event of global issues, utilizing the best members of the Economic Cooperation Committee operated by the FKI.

The FKI currently operates 31 economic cooperation committees from 30 countries, including the Korea-U.S. Business Council and the Korea-Japan Business Council.

In addition, Kim Byong-joon, who led the election campaign committee for then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol, was appointed to lead the FKI as acting chairman, Thursday, succeeding GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, who expressed his intentions to resign after holding the position since 2011.

The acting president said he would break the link of collusion between politics and business, which was the reason the FKI was criticized in 2017 during the Park Geun-hye administration's corruption scandal.

“I think the reason why the FKI asked me to do this was not because of my relationship with the president, but to see my beliefs and philosophies on free democracy and free market economy,” Kim said. “The basics start with breaking the so-called link of corrupt ties between political and business circles. I came here to break the link, not to strengthen it."