FKI expected to regain previous stature under new chairman
Poongsan Group Chairman Ryu Jin, third from right, poses with the heads of Korea's leading conglomerates during their meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace in Paris in this June 21 file photo. From left are Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Macron, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Ryu, Hyosung Group Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang and Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae. Courtesy of Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Top 4 business groups likely rejoin business lobby
By Park Jae-hyuk
Korea's four largest business groups are likely to rejoin the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), which will come under the leadership of a new chairman after its general meeting on Aug. 22, according to industry officials, Tuesday.
The four ― Samsung, SK Group, LG Group and Hyundai Motor Group ― left the business lobby in 2016 due to its connection to a bribery scandal involving impeached former President Park Geun-hye.
A day after Poongsan Group Chairman Ryu Jin was recommended as the new FKI chairman on Monday, the Samsung Compliance Committee said that it decided to hold an extraordinary meeting before Aug. 22. The committee members will reportedly discuss whether the conglomerate should accept the FKI's request made last month for its return.
The committee was initially supposed to hold a regular meeting on Aug. 22, but Lee Chan-hee, a lawyer who leads the committee, told the press that the need emerged to host an extraordinary meeting.
Samsung Electronics and other affiliates are also reportedly planning to hold extraordinary board meetings before Aug. 22.
These decisions are being interpreted as showing Samsung's intention to take steps to rejoin the business lobby.
Last month, Lee did not rule out the possibility of rejoining the FKI, saying a “Copernican Revolution” in the business lobby is a prerequisite for Samsung to return.
If Samsung decides to rejoin the FKI, the other three groups are expected to follow suit.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who leads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), which replaced the FKI as the most influential business lobby during the Moon Jae-in administration, hinted last month that his company may rejoin the FKI.
“I hope for the success of the FKI under a good leader,” he told reporters during a KCCI forum on Jeju Island. “I want the KCCI and the FKI to become partners to solve difficult problems.”
Sources familiar with this matter said SK Group is more open-minded than the other three groups in terms of rejoining the FKI.
Against this backdrop, POSCO Group, which left the FKI in 2017, already decided to return.
“We are taking procedures to rejoin the FKI,” a POSCO Group official said.
Since the FKI came under the leadership of Acting Chairman Kim Byong-joon, a politician who worked for President Yoon Suk Yeol's election campaign, the business lobby has expanded its presence again, hosting major international events.
The four business groups' moves to rejoin the FKI, however, have been attributed to the reputation of the incoming chairman, who has built personal networks in business and political circles in Korea and the U.S.
Given that Poongsan operates a defense business that produces various ammunition, he has maintained close ties with U.S. politicians, including the Bush family.
“Ryu has outstanding experience, knowledge and connections on the global stage. He is the right person to demonstrate his leadership in building a new FKI as a global think tank and a central economic organization in name and reality,” the FKI said in a press release.