By Shim Jae-yun and Seo Jee-yeon
Staff Reporters

Following a stern warning from President Roh Moo-hyun last Saturday, chaebol CEOs have kept a low-profile in making their voices heard against what they call business-unfriendly policies.

But they said President Roh underestimates the seriousness of the current economic trouble, which is typified by soaring oil prices, possible U.S. interest rate hikes and China’s economic cool down as well as the high unemployment rate, record number of credit card delinquents and slow investment.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) on Monday delayed the scheduled issuance of their position paper on the government’s proposal to the fair trade law revision, which would empower the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to track bank accounts of conglomerates and bar chaebol from abusing their financial subsidiaries for ownership protection.

``We concluded it would take time to figure out what the Roh administration’s policy direction is,’’ a FKI executive said.

In a meeting with Commerce-Industry-Energy Minister Lee Hee-beom in Seoul on Monday, vice chairmen of the nation’s leading business organizations, including the FKI and the Korea Chamber of Commerce in Korea (KCCI), refrained from making provocative remarks which may anger President Roh.

Following his reinstatement last Saturday, President Roh warned unspecified interest groups against sabotaging his economic reform drive.

Roh has not clarified which interest group he targets, but the FKI believes he targeted chaebol for challenging the FTC’s corporate reform drive.

A Seoul CEO said, ``Employers have many complaints over the economic policies but we will keep a low profile for the time being until we get a clear picture of Roh’s policy direction.’’

Roh is scheduled to meet chaebol leaders next week.

The President on Monday convened a meeting of economic ministers to deal with the current economic problems and map out counter steps. The meeting drew particular attention, as it was his first meeting with Cabinet members since his comeback from two months of impeached presidency.

Roh will also chair a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss economic security issues including the recent U.S. move to pull out its forces from the Korean peninsula to deploy them to Iraq.

jyshim@koreatimes.co.kr

jyseo@koreatimes.co.kr