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| President Moon Jae-in talks to employees during a visit to the SBB Tech in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday visited SBB Tech, a local firm, as part of his efforts to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expected to be affected by Japan's recent trade regulations against Korea, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The visit highlighted the President's focus on the localization of parts and materials to deal with the aftermath of Japan's escalating trade restrictions on Korea, the presidential office said. Japan's export regulations on three high-tech materials, crucial to local manufacturers of semiconductors and display panels, have underlined the urgent need for Korea to reduce its heavy reliance on Japanese suppliers for the nation's core industries.
"After the export regulations and the whitelist removal, we have continued to say we will use these an opportunity to improve our industrial ecosystem," presidential spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said during a regular briefing, Wednesday. The presidential aide explained that the meeting was aimed at communicating the President's views on supporting the local manufacturers' capacity for localization of parts and materials and strengthening cooperation with the business sector in this regard.
Located in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, SBB Tech is a manufacturer of bearings and decelerators which are in high demand for manufacturing semiconductors, LCD equipment and robots, among others. The company, founded in the 1993, has gained a reputation for successfully developing decelerators in robots which had been imported mostly from Japan.
During the visit, Moon was briefed about the manufacturing process and held a meeting with some 30 staff members of the company. Moon stressed that companies like SBB Tech can take advantage of the situation caused by Japan's trade restrictions and urged them to have confidence that they can overtake Japan, Cheong Wa Dae said.
"We will raise the competitiveness of the parts and materials sector and never be swayed by a country that holds tech supremacy, while using this as an opportunity to raise our profile as a manufacturing powerhouse," Moon said during an emergency Cabinet meeting on Aug. 2 after Japan excluded Korea from its "whitelist" of preferential trading partners earlier the same day.
Moon also heard the suggestions and difficulties being experienced by the workers and urged relevant ministries to reflect them in their policies. SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun was one of the officials who accompanied Moon.
Moon's visit to SBB Tech came on the day Japan promulgated a bill to remove Korea from the whitelist before putting it into effect on Aug. 28.
"The government's policy is to provide multifaceted support to enable large-scale domestic production of items that are to be affected by the whitelist removal," a presidential aide said.
It was the first time for the South Korean leader to visit a local company since Japan's trade retaliation started early last month.
Japan has strengthened control of exports to Korea in apparent retaliation to the South Korean Supreme Court's rulings last year ordering Japanese firms to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
To deal with the impact of Japan's growing trade pressure, Seoul announced a package of measures, including an extensive nurturing of the local parts, materials and equipment sector.
Cheong Wa Dae has stressed the importance of communicating closely over the trade restrictions with the business sector. President Moon met with the chiefs of the nation's major conglomerates last month, and presidential aides have also been having regular contact with them.
