The new head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the country's biggest business lobby group, said Wednesday that problems of wealth divide and fair competition should be solved by more flexible measures than regulations.
Park Yong-maan, the chairman of Doosan Group, who took office formally as the KCCI head earlier in the day, told reporters that it is possible to solve the issue for "economic democratization" with in-depth discussions between businessmen and the government without regulations.
The economic democratization was a key election campaign pledge of both the rival parties during last December's presidential election, which aims to narrow the wealth divide and promote fair competition between conglomerates and smaller companies.
Some bills related to the economic democratization were passed at an extra session of the National Assembly in June, but others are still pending in the parliament.
During the June session, the KCCI called on parliament to be prudent in passing bills related to the economic democratization. Park also said that the South Korean economy's top priority is to create jobs and revive economic conditions, adding the KCCI will keep pace with the government to boost the economy.
Earlier on Aug. 12, Park was also elected as the chairman of the Seoul chamber of the business lobby group.
Park is credited with transforming Doosan, a maker of consumer goods, into a company that has businesses ranging from power generation and desalination to engines and machine tools.
Established in 1952, the KCCI is the nation's largest private economic organization and represents 71 regional chambers and more than 45,000 businesses nationwide. (Yonhap News)
