[아이뉴스24 장유미 기자] The contrast between the Korea Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Businessmen, which is about to change heads side by side this year, is at odds. SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won was elected as the next chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce, while the FKI is having a hard time finding a successor. Accordingly, the business community is drawing attention as to whether FKI Chairman Huh Chang-soo will be reappointed again.
According to the business community on the 12th, the FKI will hold the 60th regular general meeting at the end of this month and decide on the agenda for the appointment of the 38th president to elect a successor to Chairman Huh. Chairman Huh’s term expires until this month.
After being elected to the 33rd chairman in 2011 for the first time, Chairman Huh has served as president of the FKI for a whopping 10 years until the 37th generation. The FKI president has a term of two years and can serve an unlimited number of consecutive terms. On the other hand, the chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce can only reappoint once every three years.
When the term of office expired in 2017, Chairman Huh announced that he would no longer be reappointed, but he continued to reappoint because no suitable successor did not appear, and held the position of chairman for a total of 10 years. Accordingly, Chairman Huh joined the late Chairman Kim Yong-wan and the late Chairman Jeong Ju-young of Hyundai Group’s honorary chairman, and joined the ranks of the oldest chairman of all time. If there is no successor this time, it is highly likely that Chairman Huh will take office for the fifth time.
On the other hand, in the Korean Chamber of Commerce, the candidate for the next president began to be mentioned in the summer of last year, and in the end, as expected by the business community, Choi’s inauguration was officially announced on the 1st. Chairman Choi will be finally elected as the president of the Seoul Prize at the General Assembly of the Seoul Prize on the 23rd.
When Choi was unanimously elected to the next chairman of the Seoul Award, he said, “Thank you for the appointment,” and said, “I will consider what I can do for the Korean Award and the national economy.”
The reason why the two economic organizations representing the business world show a difference in changing heads is because the FKI’s status is not the same as before.
In 1961, the FKI, created by the late Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-cheol, brought together large domestic companies with the motif of Japanese Gay Danren, was once a communication channel for business circles. In particular, the FKI, starting with Chairman Lee Byung-cheol, has played a strong role in keeping the government and politics in check, with the heads of large corporations including Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-young, LG Honorary Chairman Koo Ja-kyung, SK Group president Choi Jong-hyun, and Hyosung Group honorary chairman Cho Seok-rae.
However, in the case of the Gukjeong Nongdan incident in 2016, the four major groups withdrew from the FKI, which weakened their position. At the time, the FKI was branded as “poisoning” because it led the fundraising of companies for the K Sports and Mir Foundation in the case of Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil.
For this reason, the FKI was humiliated by being excluded from the invitational events of the Blue House businessmen or the invitation of the Economic Ministerial Council after the Moon Jae-in administration was launched in 2017. In addition, as the current government has not properly recognized it as a dialogue partner, it has been pointed out that it cannot function properly as a communication channel for the business world, and it has a considerable burden.
A business official said, “Since the four major groups withdrew, the FKI has been focusing on strengthening think tank functions such as responding to foreign trade issues and suggesting economic policies, while the Korean Chamber of Commerce has played a large role as a communication channel for the business community. “If the FKI, which has been greatly reduced, cannot find a successor to Chairman Huh this time, he will continue his term of office for 12 consecutive years for the first time among previous presidents.”
Some also observed that as Chairman Huh stepped down from the GS Group in December 2019, he would find a successor among the active-duty general managers and hand over the position of FKI chairman to raise the position of the FKI. As candidates, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, Kim Seung-yeon, Hanwha Group Chairman, Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won, and Samyang Holdings Chairman Kim Yoon, are being discussed as candidates.
A business official said, “There is no person who is willing to take the position of chairman due to the lowered status of the former convulsions,” and “Chairman Seung-yeon Kim, who is expected to return to management soon, is expected to resume business activities with the FKI chairman. It is expected that it will be 5 consecutive days.”
Reporter Jang Yoomi [email protected]