Samsung ‘ejected critic’ tapped to be top business cop

Bloomberg

Samsung Electronics Co.’s security guards once dragged a bespectacled professor out of the building after he heckled the chief executive officer for not doing anything when the chairman was accused of making illegal political donations.
Thirteen years later, the professor — Kim Sang-jo — has the backing of South Korea’s new leader to hold the biggest conglomerates accountable in what may trigger significant changes for Samsung, Hyundai, Lotte and other chaebol dominating the economy.
The fiery 54-year-old Kim was named by President Moon Jae-in to run the Fair Trade Commission, a government agency and quasi-judicial body that sets policies and makes decisions on cases related to fair competition. If Kim’s nomination is approved, the office most responsible for regulating the conglomerates would be directed by their most high-profile antagonist. “The reason why there needs to be chaebol reform is because the country’s corporate ecosystem has become distorted and the fair order disrupted by the governance structure of the chaebol,” Kim said. “The Korean economy has changed significantly from the past and, considering this, I will find a way to implement sustainable reform.”
Kim is wasting no time getting started on his plans for change. He pledged during news conference to strengthen the FTC’s authority and enlarge its size, saying improving corporate governance and other reforms are a necessary part of Moon’s promised job-creation campaign. Samsung Electronics shares fell as much as
2.7 percent to their lowest in three weeks, as the benchmark Kospi was little changed.
The president, who rode into office railing against the scandal-plagued business groups, pledged to add 500,000 new jobs in the private sector. Kim, an economics professor at Hansung University in Seoul, advised Moon during his campaign. “Kim is expected to strengthen surveillance and policies to improve transparency in big companies,” said Lee Kyung-sang, executive director at the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry.