By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak committed himself to becoming a strong supporter of chaebol, Korea's ubiquitous family-owned conglomerates.
In his meeting with leaders of major business groups at Cheong Wa Dae Monday, Lee reiterated that easing regulations and cutting corporate taxes will be one of the cornerstones of his economic policy.
Lee also said the government has already asked the National Assembly to ease or scrap rules forbidding conglomerates from owning banks.
Under the Industrial Capital Law, non-financial industries have been barred from buying more than a 5 percent stakes in commercial banks out of concern of arbitrary intervention by chaebol such as Samsung and LG in the nation's financial market.
Lee said he expects a variety of revised bills on the deregulation of industrial business groups to be enacted at the start of the 18th term National Assembly, which will open on May 31st.
Lee and the participants also discussed a plan to cut corporate tax rates from 25 percent to 20 percent by 1 percentage point every year during his five-year term. Currently, companies earning over 100 million won in taxable income are subject to up to 25 percent corporate tax.
In a bid to offset a drop in tax revenues, the Lee administration plans to cut its spending by as much as 20 trillion won, equal to 10 percent its yearly budget, by eliminating ``unnecessary'' spending.
Participants included Hyundai Automotive Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, Samsung Life Chairman Lee Soo-bin who also represents the Samsung Group, and Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Cho Suck-rai
The business tycoons welcomed Lee's policies.
They said that businesses don't want surprises. Instead, the leaders said they expect reasonable regulations and acceptable tax measures, which will together help the nation's leading industries push Korea to become the world's seventh largest economy.