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179559
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 12:04
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Lee says his top priority is to help companies succeed

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with meeting's results; CHANGES headline; ADDS photo)
SEOUL, May 3 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak told business representatives Tuesday that one of his administration's top priorities is to help companies succeed, as he sought to dispel any misgivings that his "pro-business" policy stance might be waning.
Lee made the remark during a meeting with the heads of South Korea's five major business lobbies. The meeting came as government-business relations showed signs of worsening over contentious policy suggestions, including bolstering the role of public funds in corporate management.
The meeting was set up after Lee said last week that his administration is "pro-market and pro-business" and that he is willing to meet with business representatives to brief them on his policies, officials said.
"A government objective is to help companies be better off," Lee told the business representatives during their lunch meeting, according to presidential spokesman Hong Sang-pyo. "I have a firm intention to stick to that principle no matter what."
The meeting drew media attention because it came after businesses expressed concern that the government might be trying to control conglomerates, after a key aide to Lee claimed earlier that the national pension fund and other public funds should actively exercise their shareholder rights.
The suggestion from Kwak Seung-jun, head of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, sparked a wave of criticism from businesses, though the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae immediately downplayed the proposal as the official's "personal view."
Lee, a former construction CEO, has touted his administration as "pro-business" and implemented policies in line with that priority since he was elected in late 2007 on a pledge to boost South Korea's economy and improve the people's financial standing.
But relations between the government and conglomerates have shown signs of deterioration in recent months as the government appeared to shift its focus to caring more for less-privileged people as Lee headed toward his final years in office.
Lee has also appealed to conglomerates to make concessions so that they can grow together with smaller partner firms. Lee reiterated the appeal in Tuesday's meeting, calling on business leaders to "pay a little more attention" to helping smaller firms, according to the spokesman.
In line with Lee's "joint growth" policy, former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan had proposed what he called the "excess profit sharing system" earlier this year, calling for large businesses to share some of their large profits with their subcontractors for the purpose of balanced growth.
But the proposal met harsh criticism from conglomerates.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee sharply denounced the proposal, saying he "has never heard" of such a system and he has no idea where the term came from and whether it came from a "socialist, capitalist or communist" economy.
Many South Korean conglomerates here have long been accused of unfair treatment of subcontractors, prospering through huge exports and growing domestic market shares while small- and medium-sized companies suffer from financial troubles.
jschang@yna.co.kr

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