MOCIE Minister Chung Sye-kyun is touring Europe as part of the official delegation accompanying President Roh Moohyun.
The Minister says that top-notch products are the key to boosting the national image with Premium Korea. World class products (those that are in the top five in terms of global market share) form the core of the nation's growth engine and will help Korea reach the goal of $1 trillion in trade.
Minister Chung commits himself to doing his best to popularize the World Class product logo. This logo will link current World Class Products, whose brand awareness is high, with new, lesser known items. With constant use, the logo and the exhibition will construct an image of Korea as an advanced industrial technology country.
According to Chung, MOCIE will promote the World Class Products in influential overseas mass media both in newspapers and magazines and on internet web sites.
There are 78 items that are number one in terms of world market share as of 2004, according to Chung, ranging from large corporate products such as DRAM(dynamic random access memory), TFT-LCD and LNG Carriers to smaller company products like Cycle Shoes, Motorcycle Helmets and Manicure Sets.
Among them, DRAM from Korea account for 47% of the world market, with domestic production taking up $12.4 billion out of the $26.3 billion worldwide market. TFT-LCD also accounts for 51% of world market share with a domestic production of $17.2 billion among the total $33.5 billion world market share.
Smaller company products are also doing well, such as Motorcycle Helmets and Cycle Shoes posting number one with 19% and 31% respectively in terms of world market share. These companies produce over 1.8 million helmets and 570,000 shoes at home, according to Chung.
$318 billion export target reachable
Regarding whether Korea could reach its export target of $318 billion this year Chung said, "Petrochemical and steel exports were somewhat sluggish earlier this year but they are expected to recover in the second half of the year. Overall exports are continuing to grow at a healthy pace maintaining a growth rate of 10%, despite some setbacks in auto exports from strikes."
As auto companies are concentrating on increasing their exports to make up for the losses incurred from the strikes, and with high prices for petrochemical exports, Minister Chung forecasts that the annual export goal will be attainable.
Good quality exports which contribute to the sound growth of the national economy via job creation, will play an important role in what Chung stressed as high value addition which is pivotal for the expansion of Korea's export base and qualitative growth. He added in that respect, MOCIE commits itself to actively supporting small-sized companies that are innovative and have potential to grow.
In reference to efforts to stimulate the economy, Minister Chung says the much of the Ministry's policy capacity will focus on reinvigorating the economy in the second half of the year.
As part of such measures, MOCIE is planning to enlarge exchange fluctuation insurance from 15 trillion won to 20 trillion won plus continuing to provide smaller export companies with a special 2 trillion won insurance fund.
Energy stability
Regarding long-term/short-term measures about high oil prices, MOCIE is devoting policy efforts to boost efficient energy use nationwide. It is also working to secure energy stability with long-term energy supply measures.
First from the short-term standpoint, Chung says that MOCIE will continue to urge the country to make energy efficiency a part of everyone's daily life. In addition, MOCIE will encourage manufacturers to make products that have high energy efficiency.
For a stable energy supply and to increase the nation's energy resources in the long term, the Ministry is actively seeking to secure joint international oil reserves and increase the scale of reserve facilities.
Furthermore, Chung said that MOCIE will enlarge energy resource cooperation with resources-rich nations like Russia and Algeria and proactively develop overseas resources by initiating the "overseas energy and mineral resources development fund" of around $200 million later this year.
Fundamentally, Chung says that the Ministry will reinforce policy efforts to strengthen the economy so that factors such as high oil prices will not adversely affect the nation.
As part of such plans, MOCIE hopes to forge a good environment in which to do business plus nurturing smaller innovative companies and parts and material industries for expansion of the future growth engine and investment.
Chung said that the Ministry will encourage high energy consumption industry structures to convert to low energy consumption in order to lessen the degree of oil dependency, which is 44.3% as of 2005. The Ministry will facilitate this by developing new renewable energy sources such as hydrogen fuel cells, solar energy, wind power and bio energy.
Attracting foreign investment
MOCIE plans to improve the business environment so as to attract more foreign investment into the country. It believes a business- friendly environment along with improvements in living conditions will play a big part in convincing investors to come to Korea.
Alongside this, the government will help investors to Korea by providing tax breaks, rent support and cash grants.
On the rising importance of emerging markets, Minister Chung points out that to succeed in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) market, there must be continuous support to make inroads in these new markets. Needless to say, tapping into the huge potential of BRICs is vital to a country like Korea where onefourth of the nation's exports head to these four countries.
Chung said, "We must also make inroads into the Middle East and African regions since these oil-producing countries are in demand for large-scale infrastructure expansion projects by using their oil money."
That is why the Minister is placing high hopes on the Korea Premium strategy so that these and other countries will recognize Korea and its national brands as being cutting edge in technology. The Minister forecasts that Korea will be able to become one of the top four industrial powers and top eight trade powers by 2008 if it continues to maintain its current growth. This growth will be based on key industry competitiveness such as shipbuilding, automobiles, and semiconductors.
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