Business Lobby Chief Offers President Bitter Criticisms

Kang Shin-ho, acting president of the Federation of Korean Industries, on January 15 offered bitter criticisms as well as expressed his expectations for President Roh Moo-hyun.

In a New Year press conference, Kang said, “If the president talks ten times less than he does, he will be more popular.” He added, “It would be better for him to listen more and talk about one or two issues.”

Commenting on industrial insiders’ attribution of uncertainty as the reason for the slowdown in investment, Kang said, “There is much talk about uncertainty, but there is no clear essence to it.”

“Clarity has been missing from the government’s policy goals. The lack of clarity creates confusion,” Kang said. He added, “To curb uncertainty, the government should show consistency in policy and set a clear goal on which it will work.”

Meanwhile, he expressed expectations he had for a meeting scheduled for January 19 between the president and FKI officials.

“Job creation is the FKI’s major goal this year,” Kang said. “We were glad when the president emphasized the importance of job creation in his press conference yesterday.”

“I will comprehensively discuss with him about ways to create jobs and expand investment,” said Kang

After the press conference, he went into damage-control mode over his remarks that the president should talk ten times less than he does now and said, “What I intended to say was not something like that.” He asked journalists to refrain them from quoting the remarks.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com