Firms Want Improved Business Environment

Korean firms running businesses in the United States hope that President Lee Myung-bak will put an emphasis on bilateral efforts to improve business environment during his visit to the United States, according to the Federation of Korean Industries.

The FKI conducted a survey of 121 Korean firms that have subsidiaries and trading firms in the United States. According to the report dubbed “Economic Forecast of the Korean Firms in the United States and Challenges,” released Thursday, 41 percent of the respondents answered that they want President Lee to discuss measures to boost business activities between the two nations during his state visit.

Other things on their wish list were the effectuation of the KORUS FTA (27.9 percent), recovery of the bilateral alliance (19.6 percent) and drawing investment of major U.S. firms (8.2 percent).

Regarding the U.S. economic forecast, 62.8 percent of the respondents answered that the recent economic recession will continue at least for two or three years, and 18.2 percent said the United States will likely experience a long-term economic recession as Japan.

However, 71.4 percent answered that a successful KORUS FTA will help Korea to prepare for the economic recession in the United States.

abc@donga.com