French-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman David-Pierre Jalicon

By David-Pierre Jalicon

First of all, on behalf of the 430 members of the French-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), I would like to congratulate President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol for his success but as well the whole country for this election which shows the strength of Korean democracy.

Despite the close race, the results were not contested, and the process went smoothly. Representing a foreign business community in Korea, the FKCCI is politically neutral, but we will be glad to work with the President chosen by the Korean people and its administration in order to maintain a constructive dialogue and an inclusive approach for the foreign companies present in Korea.

One main challenge for the next administration will be to reconcile a politically divided country, in a challenging context of internal and external pressures such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Omicron outbreak, among others. French companies worry about several issues that the Korean economy is already facing including inflation, rising households' debts, tension in the job market, discrepancies between SMEs and large conglomerate, diversification of the supply chain and on the long-run the energetic transition and the demographic slowdown.

We believe some of those challenges can be address through international cooperation in key sectors. For example, the recovery plan of French economy is based on three pillars (green, digital and health) and is very similar to the Korean New Deal and could easily offers potential partnerships. In this regard, we welcome, within the EU/Indo-pacific strategy, a digital partnership between France, Korea, Japan and Singapore for digital convergence and semiconductors supply, and French investments, here, in the field of hydrogen.