Park Jin-seon, president of the Korea Food Industry Association, said on the 15th, "Corporations may be able to lower prices for a year or two, but they cannot keep doing that. The previous administration regulated prices, but I hope this administration does not."
Park held a press briefing that day at the main training center of the Korea Food Industry Association in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and said this in connection with his meeting with Minister Song Mi-ryeong of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on 10th. Park said, "Minister Song asked the association to work to stabilize food prices," but added, "Raw material and labor costs are rising, and other expense is also going up, so corporations cannot operate while running deficits."
Park took office as the 23rd president of the Food Industry Association on Jul. 31. His term runs until Jul. 30, 2028. He is a third-generation owner-executive of SEMPIO FOODS. After graduating from Seoul National University with a degree in electronic engineering, he received a master's in electrical engineering from Stanford University in the United States and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Ohio State University. After serving as a professor at Villanova University in the United States, he joined Sempio in 1994 and has led the company as CEO since 1997.
Park said, "We are doing our utmost to strengthen the global competitiveness of K-food," adding, "Next month, at the food fair 'Anuga (ANUGA) 2025' in Germany, Korea will participate as the guest of honor to promote the excellence of Korean food. It will promote the excellence of Korean food to the world and serve as a turning point for K-food to expand its global competitiveness." Anuga is a business-to-business (B2B) food exhibition in which more than 8,000 corporations from over 100 countries participate and more than 160,000 industry officials take part. This is the first time Korea has been invited as the guest of honor.
The association will place the "K-food leading corporations pavilion," comprising 88 booths with the participation of 12 leading domestic food corporations, at the main hall entrance. The strategy is to showcase the innovation and diversity of Korean food up front.
Regarding support for K-food exports, Park said, "We will build an overseas safety information platform to overcome complex export certification and customs clearance procedures and differences in regulations by country," adding, "We will provide information that small and midsize corporations and member companies struggling with exports can use in a practical way."
In addition, regarding a series of fatal factory accidents at food corporations, Park said, "Executives and employees at each company must take safety issues seriously." Citing the case of SEMPIO FOODS, he said, "It took three years to replace the fire safety equipment at a plant completed in 1986 to meet the latest standards," adding, "The employees in charge thought there could never be a fire at a soy sauce plant, and they thought investing a lot of money in safety would harm the company."
He continued, "Once all the equipment replacements were completed, employees' thinking changed, and now they say we should proactively replace equipment even if it is not mandated by law," adding, "It takes a long time to instill in executives and employees the idea that safety issues are important."