“I Will Help the Reform of the New Government Succeed.”

“I thinks that it is a duty of business circle to help the reform task of the new government succeed.” Mr. Sohn Gil-seung, new Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries said so at the press conference for the inauguration on the 7th.

In line with this, it is expected that the direct conflict between the business circle and the supporters of President-elect Mr. Noh Moo Hyun will diminish and also anticipated that behind-the-scene contacts will be activated. Followings are Q&A with Chairman Sohn.

-It does not seem to be easy to respond to ‘three major reforms of business conglomerates’.

“I read the book entitled ‘Honey, please help me’ written by President-elect Noh. That was warm and affectionate, and contained the discussion and dialogue. I was sympathized with many contents. National patriarchs or leaders are considered to think about the development of country. There will be no problems which can not be solved if the help is focused on this to achieve the fundamental objectives.”

―Until now, the business circle has insisted that the reform of business conglomerates the Government advocated hindered the growth potential.

“The enterprise can not be away from the country. Although the globalization has progressed, there also exists the enterprise inside the region. In addition, President Noh seems to have the view that the improvement of national strength is an important task and also seems to think that the role of enterprise is very important. The business circle has a duty of helping the national strategy of a new Government make a success by accepting this positively and expressing its opinions.”

However, Chairman Sohn did not expressed his opinions about the reform of business conglomerates including the comprehensive rule of inheritance and gift tax, system of class action for the securities and equity investment limit system in the end.

―The ‘Nobleness Oblige’ by which the entrepreneurs take the social responsibility was emphasized….

“I saw the Nobleness Oblige many times around me at time of Japanese colonization and Korean War. The most important thing is to collect the strength in the difficult time, console in the lonely time, and for the wealthy help the being not wealthy. I will let the enterprise to study what our society demands and how much the enterprise can do and enable the enterprise to do it voluntarily.”

―What about the idea of the system of economic cooperation of North-east Asia?….

“The most important task for 5 years in the future is to construct the system of economic cooperation of North-east Asia by cooperating with Japan and Mainland China.

Although the Government has ideas, it is the enterprise to practice that. A plan with a high probability of success has to be prepared by the close cooperation of the enterprise with the policy authorities.”

Yeon-Su Shin ysshin@donga.com