By Kim Hyun-bin
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is set to take over the Korea Chambers of Commerce (Korcham) chairman position next year. Industry sources said Chey will accept the position following current Korcham Chairman Park Yong-seong's recommendation for him to be his successor and the decision will be made official later this month.
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| SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won |
In August, Chairman Park requested Chey to succeed him in the Korcham position as his tenure is set to expire in March next year.
The Seoul Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to appoint its next chairman either late January or early February and hold a general meeting to make this official in late February. It has been a tradition for the chairman of the Seoul Chamber of Commerce to jointly serve as the head of Korcham.
Chey, 60, is considered the "eldest brother" in the industrial circle as he is the oldest among the leaders of the country's top four conglomerates ― Samsung, LG and Hyundai Motor. He also led efforts to hold several meetings with them this year.
Last month, they met up in the SK-owned Walkerhill Hotel and are said to have discussed the possible Korcham chairman succession. The heads of Samsung Electronics, LG Corp. and Hyundai Motor all take up vice chairman roles in the Seoul Chamber of Commerce, and all have a voice in appointing the Korcham chairman.
Industry observers believe that Chey's background is the reason for him being pushed to head Korcham as conglomerates' views and opinions have not been delivered to the government regarding its economic policies.
In the past, each economic organization had a role in communicating with the government. For conglomerates, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), and for small and mid-sized companies, the Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ), expressed their opinions while labor and management issues were dealt with by the Korean Enterprises Federation and the Korea International Trade Association.
Korcham has been gaining influence becoming a leading entity in business circles for both conglomerates and SMEs. Chey will likely use the medium to deliver the conglomerates stance and use it as a mean to create corporate societal value.
Chey has been emphasizing environmental, social and governance (ESG) management to enhance corporations' social role. Last week, he stressed ESG during the Tokyo Forum 2020 and during the Beijing Forum 2020, Sunday. "It is a corporation's role to create societal value and maintain a transparent corporate structure to speedily recover from COVID-19," Chey said at that time.
