President’s Visit to FKI
President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) on December 17 is her first visit since December 26 in 2012, when she visited as President-elect. There have been several talks with business leaders, but this is the first time she visited FKI and met with the heads of Korea’s largest interest group. The meeting lasted for an hour and twenty minutes, half an hour longer than originally scheduled.
Leaders of the FKI revealed some ambitious spending plans. Samsung said it would invest 50 trillion won (US$47.5 billion) next year, and SK Group said that it would invest heavily in R&D in the area of convergence, announcing plans to spend 1.2 trillion won (US$1.14 billion).
The meeting began with President Park leading off and business leaders taking turns speaking on various issues such as the creative economy, employment, and investment. President Park took detailed notes of FKI’s opinions and expressed her comments as well. On several topics she took matters further, requesting Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok to conduct a close review.
An official from the FKI said, “I hope that this meeting will yield constructive results,” adding, “We will try our best, and hopefully the president’s will to vitalize investment from large businesses will be reflected in the legislature as well.”