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| Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), speaks during a press briefing at the Shilla Hotel Jeju, Wednesday. Courtesy of KCCI |
"I think now is the time for all of us to help the President handle the situation," Park Yong-maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told the reporters when asked about the deteriorating bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo. "Companies need to do their part to create a more favorable environment for the government in dealing with (the trade row with Tokyo)."
Park, who is also chairman of Doosan Infracore, said businesses should view Japan's latest actions as a long-term risk, stressing they should come up with fundamental steps to reduce their dependence on the world's third-largest economy.
Early this month, Japan imposed restrictions on the export to Korea of high-tech materials essential for manufacturing chips and display panels, sending Samsung Electronics and SK hynix into a panic. Even though Tokyo has been citing security concerns as the reason for such restrictions, Korea sees it as a retaliation against last year's Supreme Court rulings here against Japanese companies over compensation for wartime forced labor.
"It is meaningless for Korean companies to come out with short-term answers to this problem. Even though we don't want to admit it, Japan's export restrictions can happen again in the future. So we all need to devote our resources to prevent this from happening again," the KCCI chairman said.
He said companies should boost cooperation with their smaller business partners here that can develop and produce high-tech materials, and work harder to find alternative suppliers in China, Taiwan and other countries.
The ongoing trade tension is expected to intensify in the coming weeks as Tokyo said it would remove Seoul from its "white list" of 27 countries given customs shipping-clearance priority for the import of industrial materials from Japan.
When asked to grade the Moon administration's handling of the situation, the chairman said it is not the time to criticize one another.
"We should all work together to enable the President to manage this matter. The government and the National Assembly should work harder to help businesses deal with this unprecedented situation," Park said.
"It is not easy to pursue the localization of high-tech industrial parts that we currently import from Japan. Companies need to build new R&D centers and plants but the country's complex web of regulations makes it extremely difficult. I urge policymakers and politicians to extend their full support to businesspeople."
