Kim Ki-moon urges political participation for South Korea's small and medium enterprises

Kim Ki-moon, president of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, demanded at a meeting with members of the Democratic Party belonging to the National Assembly's Committee on Industry, Trade, and Energy and the Strategy and Finance Committee on the 11th, "Please allow political participation for small and medium enterprises."

The legally recognized economic organization, KBIZ, is prohibited from engaging in political activities. According to the Small and Medium Enterprises Cooperatives Act, which forms the basis of KBIZ's activities, all political actions are forbidden. It forbids any actions that support specific political parties or ensure the election of specific individuals.

Kim, who is serving as the fourth president of KBIZ, should know this better than anyone, so why did he advocate for the federation's political participation?

On this day, Kim emphasized fairness. He stated, "While there are too few lawmakers from corporations, there are too many from labor unions," adding that there are many opinions indicating a need for someone to represent small and medium enterprises in politics and that this should be actively reviewed.

In fact, major labor groups like the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Trade Union Confederation engage in political activities. They argue that political struggle is necessary to improve the status of workers.

Conversely, KBIZ cannot engage in any political activities. For this reason, Kim views the current political landscape as tilted toward labor and emphasizes the need for a balance between the economy and labor.

In reality, KBIZ, as well as the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Korean Industries, and the National Association of Small Business Owners, are politically neutral and prohibited from political activities as per their articles of association and ethical guidelines. This is to focus on protecting and fostering the rights and growth of corporations and small businesses. Additionally, if politically biased, it could harm the interests of member companies with differing political orientations.

On the other hand, the labor sector argues that workers are vulnerable compared to capital-holding corporations and have the freedom to form political associations in order to improve their economic, social, and political standing.

Under this logic, the National Association of Small Business Owners, which represents the rights of vulnerable small business owners, has previously claimed political empowerment. The association took steps towards founding its own political group by deleting the 'prohibition of political participation' clause from its 2019 articles, but this was thwarted as the responsible ministry, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, did not approve.

Realistically, it seems difficult for KBIZ to engage in political activities. Particularly, when corporations merge with the political realm, powerful capitalists could wield overwhelming power, leading to significant concerns over collusion between politics and business.

However, experts noted that it is crucial to consider the argument for preventing not only collusion between politics and business but also the current trend of political and labor unions closely tying together, termed 'political-labor collusion.'