[Choice Times=Bo-Sik Choi, Publisher]
How will the outside world view a Korean government that makes a world-class business leader tremble with fear?
On the 12th, Choi Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and head of SK Group, said, “We will temporarily suspend all events hosted by the KCCI and seek a full vote of confidence for the entire executive leadership.” It has been reported that all ten KCCI executives will soon submit their resignations en masse.
When President Lee Jae-myung publicly rebuked the KCCI on X (formerly Twitter) on the 7th, accusing it of “deliberately spreading fake news,” Chairman Choi—who was in the United States at the time—apologized at nearly the speed of light. The KCCI itself also issued an apology within three hours.
The next day, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, the minister of trade, industry and energy, and even the commissioner of the National Tax Service joined in, launching audits of the KCCI as if competing to display loyalty. Faced with this pile-on, Chairman Choi bowed his head once again and moved to dismiss the entire executive team. One must ask: was this really an issue deserving such a response?
The KCCI press release at the center of the controversy argued for the need to reform Korea’s excessive inheritance tax system. It cited a report by the British investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners, which estimated that the number of Korean millionaires leaving the country last year doubled from the previous year to about 2,400, placing Korea fourth in the world for the outflow of wealthy individuals after the United Kingdom, China, and India.
Based on this, the KCCI analyzed that inheritance tax rates of 50–60 percent could accelerate the overseas flight of capital. The president, however, fiercely condemned the report as the “production and dissemination of fake news for private gain and to attack government policy.”
The KCCI was not the entity that fabricated the statistics, nor was there any reason to suspect manipulation in a Henley & Partners report that is widely cited around the world. While there have been criticisms that the underlying data used for projections were weak, it is unlikely that the KCCI official who cited the report had verified all of that at the time. In the course of work, such things amount to nothing more than an ordinary mistake.
Yet over such a matter, the president publicly erupted in anger, and cabinet ministers—behaving like sycophants—began to tear into a private economic organization as a group. That, in truth, is the far more bizarre spectacle.
Have there been no statements or announcements from President Lee, his aides, or his ministers that involved glaring falsehoods or mistakes? Those, it seems, are all simply brushed aside.
Over something so trivial, the president and his ministers mount a collective attack, and a globally renowned business leader appears to tremble in response. The outside world—foreign investors and global corporations alike—will be watching this scene unfold in full view.
#PoliticalPressure #BusinessClimate #RuleOfLawConcerns