For more than three decades before taking the helm at
the Research Institute for Small & Medium Industries in April 2004, Mr. In-Ho Kim
had been a successful technocrat, who established a distinguished
career with the Korean government that spanned many facets of public
service. His government career culminated in 1996-97 when he was
named Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission and, shortly thereafter,
Senior Economic Secretary to then President Kim Young-Sam.
Before taking these two ministerial-level jobs, Mr. Kim
had served in several vice ministerial-level positions within the
government, including Administrator of the Korean National Railroad,
President of the Consumer Protection Board, and Vice Minister of the
Environment.
As Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission in
1996, he worked to overhaul relevant laws in a way that encouraged
competition and limited the economic power of large firms, while
aggressively pursuing investigations into unfair trade practices.
His efforts to ban cross-loan guarantees and cross-subsidization
within Chaebols(Korean conglomerates), and to introduce consolidated financial statements
in financial reporting were pioneer policy proposals at the time.
Those measures were implemented under President Kim Dae- Jung's
administration.
When appointed to head the National Railroad
in 1994, Mr. Kim pushed for "customer-oriented management reform" to
improve the bureaucratic organization. He proved himself an
effective manager of the 40,000-employee operation, which has
significant labor union involvement.
As Vice Minister of
Environment, Mr. Kim played a key role in advancing protective
legislation, including the "Resource conservation and waste
recycling law" and the "Trans-boundary movement and disposal of
hazardous waste law." In addition, he reexamined
environmental-related administrative standards while implementing
deregulation for more effective enforcement of environmental
measures.
Mr. Kim's longest tenure in government service,
however, was on the Economic Planning Board. He served in this
prestigious agency for 25 years (1967-92). As Assistant Minister for
International Policy Coordination during the last two years of his
EPB career, he took the major role in the formulation and
coordination of related policies at inter-governmental level for the
Uruguay Round trade talks. During this time, he also worked on
devising ways to cooperate with North Korea. For almost three years
(1985-88), he held a top position at the EPB Price Policy Bureau.
During his service in that post, the Korean economy enjoyed the
lowest rate of price hikes in the nation's history.
After thirty years of public service, in 1999 he
became President of National Strategy Institute, an independent
research institute making policy recommendations for the Government.
Successively he served as chairman of WISE InfoNet, a private
oversea-information contents company, during which time he had a
chance to adjust himself to a new life in business.
Mr. Kim
established the Market Economy Research Institute (MERI) in April
2001 in alliance with SHIN&KIM, one of the largest law firms in
Korea. As Chairman of the Institute, he tried a systematic
approach toward integrating both the legal and economic aspects of
extremely complicated cases facing various business firms. In the
meantime, his ongoing concern for the establishment of market
principles in all areas of the Korean economy has been also demonstrated
through the various activities of MERI.
Mr. Kim became President of Research Institute for Small & Medium Industries in April 2004 and
is trying to tackle the issues of revitalizing small and medium business firms, recently raised as a
most important issue in Korean economy.
Mr. Kim is an ardent
fan of classical music and has been a yearly subscriber of the KBS
Symphony Orchestra for many years. In February 2001, he had an
unprecedented opportunity to be "debuted" on the podium as an
amateur conductor of that orchestra. That occasion was the first in
the history of the nation's premier orchestra in which a
non-professional took his place on the conductor's podium.
He has published two full-length books: The Return to the
Market (Suggestions to Restructuring the Korean Economy) (National
Strategy Institute, 1999) and, also, An Economy Flourishing through
Competition (Fair Trade Commission,
1997).
Mr. Kim is the second son of the late Rev. Young-Whan Kim,
a renowned pioneer in the Christian Enlightenment Movement, which
was active in the rural areas of Korea beginning in the early 1950s,
right after the Korean War. He is married to Mrs. Jin-Ja Lee, and
they have two children, both
married.
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