Yoon vows to push global frontiers of Korea Inc.

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a dinner with 180 Korean businessmen that traveled with him to Saudi Arabia at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel on Monday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would do anything to help Korean companies win orders from overseas and expand exports.

“I will jump again and again if it helps our companies’ export and overseas orders,” Yoon said Monday during a dinner with 180 Korean businesspeople who accompanied him to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

As Korea’s No. 1 “salesperson,” the president said he will work harder even under the most stressful situations.

The business entourage included the heads of Korea’s leading conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung.

“The government and the companies are one team,” President Yoon said. “The core of our economic policy is for the government to support our companies’ growth and pioneer markets.”
“Going forward, the government will focus all of its efforts on allowing our companies to achieve even greater results, as well as on opening new markets and expanding the playing field so companies can run free.”

Calling Saudi Arabia’s megacity project NEOM a modern Great Wall of China, Yoon stressed the vast opportunities for Korean companies.

“I could peek into the creativity and the innovative thinking from the NEOM project,” he said. “It mobilizes all of the world’s technology and capacity.”

“The NEOM project needs our companies’ participation, and I believe we must participate,” Yoon said.

“As a central partner for Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, we are expanding our cooperation, which was previously centered on energy and infrastructure, to promising future industries such as EVs, digital AI, smart farms, health and welfare and cultural content,” he said.

The president cited the contributions Korean companies made to Korea's economic growth when they started construction projects in Saudi Arabia 50 years ago.

He hoped the $15.6 billion in MOUs signed on his trip to Saudi Arabia would do the same.

“Our companies’ aggressive advance into the Middle East in the 1970s became the steppingstone in overcoming the oil shock at the time,” Yoon said.

“Today, our economy faces a complex crisis. We can find a breakthrough through a new Middle East boom.”

He added, “I hope the MOUs will be a valuable priming pump bringing new energy to our economy.”

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]