President Lee Jae-myung met with the heads of the top five conglomerates and the leaders of six economic groups, noting on the 13th that "the most important thing is ultimately the issue of people's livelihoods, and the core of that is the economy, and I believe the core of the economy is corporations."
On the same day, President Lee met with key figures from the business community at the Yongsan Presidential Office for the first time since taking office and said, "The market has stabilized a lot after the election, the stock prices have risen a lot, and I feel very comfortable."
In attendance were Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group and KORCHAM, Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group, and Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group.
Also present were Ryu Jin, chairman of The Federation of Korean Industries, Son Kyung-sik, chairman of Korea Enterprises Federation, Yoon Jin-sik, chairman of Korea International Trade Association, Kim Ki-mun, chairman of Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, and Choi Jin-sik, chairman of the Korea Association of Medium Enterprises.
On that day, President Lee exchanged greetings with attendees, saying, "It's nice to meet you," while business leaders offered their congratulations, saying, "We wish you success."
President Lee stated, "The most important thing is for the government to actively support and cooperate so that each corporation can contribute to economic growth and do well in their business."
He added, "On the other hand, it seems quite important to create a fair economic ecosystem by addressing internal issues, labor issues, and small and medium enterprise issues among economic entities and members of corporations."
He urged efforts to eradicate "market unfairness," such as unfair competition or favoritism.
President Lee noted, "I believe that the economic situation in Korea can no longer sustain growth through unfair competition or some sort of favoritism or exploitation. I also believe we have already moved beyond that state. You would not be in that state either."
He further stated, "However, there is still some mistrust. I hope you can alleviate that mistrust a little."
Moreover, he said he would focus on expanding corporations' "economic territories."
President Lee mentioned, "As a first step, we believe it is necessary to normalize the industry and economy," adding that many corporations are struggling in international competition and that they will focus on minimizing that and expanding corporations' economic territories and activities through diplomatic and security efforts.
As he spoke, he turned to the attendees, saying, "Please share your opinions on how we should proceed with the direction of industrial and economic policy moving forward," and added, "I basically have some thoughts, but the opinions of those of you in the field are important, so if you specify what the government should do related to overseas trade, I will do my best to align with that."
In particular, President Lee expressed his intention to resolve the issue of 'regulatory rationalization.'
He emphasized, "Regarding the regulatory rationalization issue, or what you might call deregulation or easing regulations, I intend to boldly streamline unnecessary regulations, that is, those for administrative convenience."
He continued, "If there are necessary regulations, especially regulations for creating a fair market, those are obviously needed. Regulations to protect life and safety must also be strengthened, so please share many opinions on regulatory rationalization overall."
Additionally, President Lee mentioned, "The government is still being composed. We are trying to listen to a lot of opinions from the field regarding the industrial and economic sectors," and asked for active recommendations for appointments.
Meanwhile, business leaders attending the meeting expressed their understanding of how difficult the current market situation is, while declaring their intention to actively support economic growth and national development.
Chey Tae-won, chairman of KORCHAM, stated, "This year has been considerably burdensome due to the U.S.'s mutual tariff imposition; it would be nice if they just imposed tariffs as they said they would, but it has been uncertain, causing a continuation of insecure times where nothing could be decided. The market situation has become unstable, making it difficult for businesspeople to make decisions or investments."
He added, "I believe that President Lee and the new government will have many concerns in coordinating trade and industrial policies. Our corporations, too, will work together with the government to seek solutions."
Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, emphasized, "Korea has grown to this point by overcoming numerous crises, and I believe that if the president's leadership is valued and the public and private sectors work together, we can definitely overcome this crisis."
He further added, "I think we are trying hard in our own way to coexist with small and medium enterprises as the president mentioned, but we believe that safety issues in the industrial field are principles that must be upheld."
Additionally, he mentioned, "I would like to add one more thing. I read the president's autobiography after he became president," which caught attention.