Korea Federation of SMEs Special Lecture at '2024 SME Leaders Forum'
"Government Must Actively Support Talent Acquisition for SMEs"
"Recently, people say Samsung is in crisis, but in my view, it could be that the crisis accumulated over the past 10 years is now surfacing."
On the 9th, former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun evaluated Samsung's recent crisis by saying, "In the smartphone era, Samsung and Apple thrived while IBM and Intel struggled, but now Samsung and Apple have fallen into the same dilemma," adding, "I think they were not prepared in advance for the new artificial intelligence (AI) era."
Former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun is giving a special lecture on the topic of "2024 U.S. Presidential Election and Semiconductor Sovereignty" at the "2024 SME Leaders Forum" held at the Haevichi Hotel Jeju on the 9th. [Photo by Korea Federation of SMEs]
On the same day, former Minister Park gave a special lecture titled "The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election and Semiconductor Sovereignty" at the '2024 SME Leaders Forum' hosted by the Korea Federation of SMEs at the Haevichi Hotel Jeju. This was the first time a former minister was invited to the SME Leaders Forum.
In her lecture, she said, "Since 2015, I have heard about Samsung's issues, and there is an evaluation that Samsung has become bureaucratic while thinking it was the best," emphasizing, "We must not forget the spirit of scouting talent from Intel or AMD. The government should diversify talent development, and Samsung's capability will be to prevent losing talent."
Former Minister Park stated, "We need to prepare for the AI era; in some ways, it may be a bit late, but on the other hand, it is not too late even now." She mentioned three people: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT; Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, saying, "These three are currently leading the future," urging attention. She further argued, "Semiconductors and AI are inseparable; whoever controls semiconductors will dominate the 21st century," adding, "In our daily lives, nothing can be done without semiconductors anymore."
Regarding the U.S. presidential election, former Minister Park said, "Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris becomes president, we cannot return to free trade," and added, "Free trade is over, and protectionism will prevail. The meaning of protectionism is that sectors and alliances are formed, and the question is who you ally with and who is on your side in this era."
She pointed out, "During President Moon Jae-in's administration, diplomacy maintained equidistance between China and the U.S., but President Yoon Suk-yeol's foreign policy is shifting toward the U.S., and I believe there is public resistance regarding the direction and speed of this shift," criticizing, "In such a process, skillful management is needed, but it does not seem that such skillful management is being exercised."
After the special lecture, in a meeting with reporters, former Minister Park emphasized, "As domestic and international conditions are rapidly changing, talent is necessary for SMEs to take on challenges," and stressed, "The government must actively support SMEs in securing talent."
She cited Singapore's example, saying, "In Singapore, the government supports half of the salaries of corporate research and development (R&D) personnel for 3 to 5 years," advising, "President Yoon Suk-yeol recently visited Singapore, and I hope such policies will be referenced."
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