Pres. Lee Holds Talks with Small Company CEOs

President Lee Myung-bak held talks Wednesday with 20 representatives from small and mid-size companies on their business difficulties.

Those attending the meeting included Kim Ki-moon, president of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses, Lee Sung-ho, CEO of Hanil Forging, and Lee Sang-do, head of Taehwa Metal.

The attending CEOs urged President Lee to prevent large corporations from unilaterally controlling the prices of supplied goods and from infiltrating the sectors of small and mid-size companies. They also stressed heavier fines, saying existing fines are lower than profits earned unfairly, and the government’s financial support for in-service training of workers.

The company presidents also urged President Lee to directly talk to the de facto heads of large companies instead of CEOs to change their mindsets and effectively convey such opinions to management. They said CEOs cannot elicit practical change because of their focus on raising business performance.

In his closing comments, President Lee said, “What has been discussed and presented here today is nothing new. But they are repeatedly being brought up because they remain unresolved,” adding, “In-depth and serious discussion of the reasons for the repetition is needed to fundamentally tackle such problems.”

He also reaffirmed his commitment to creating a fair business environment and urged the attending CEOs to stand on their own two feet and strive to become competitive partners of large companies.

srkim@donga.com hparks@donga.com