Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, who is also the chairman of SK Group, talks with Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, during the H2 Business Summit at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in this September 2021 file photo. Newsis

By Park Jae-hyuk

Business leaders in Korea will hold an event next Tuesday to proclaim a "new entrepreneurship," imitating the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of the largest U.S. corporations, which announced in 2019 that the purpose of a corporation should be redefined to benefit all stakeholders, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said Monday.

KCCI Chairman Chey Tae-won, who is also the chairman of SK Group, will preside over the event which will be attended by Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, Korea Enterprises Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik, Woowa Brothers founder Kim Bong-jin and Kurly CEO Sophie Kim.

The participants will also include representatives of Korea's major conglomerates, business lobby groups and startups, including Samsung Electronics President Lee In-yong, SK Social Value Committee President Lee Hyung-hee and LG Corp. President Ha Beom-jong.

During the event, they will pledge to focus on social contribution beyond profit-making, announcing specific action plans.

"The role of corporations has been changed," KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee said. "A future-oriented vision is needed to pursue social value, in addition to economic value."

In order to hold the forthcoming event, the KCCI has collected public opinions through its website and offline meetings since April last year. It has also held meetings of a working group for the event.

"The Business Roundtable's announcement was intended to shift to stakeholder capitalism from shareholder capitalism," a KCCI official said. "Our forthcoming declaration is intended to look for more advanced action items based on the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles."

The lobby group added that business leaders will continue having meetings to discuss how to handle important tasks.