Kim Ki-moon, who has led South Korea's small and medium-sized business sector for 16 years, will end his tenure as chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) in February next year. Citing the introduction of a price adjustment system for subcontracting payments and improvements to the business succession system among his key achievements, Kim ruled out a return to the chairmanship in four years and stressed the importance of policy execution skills for his successor.
At a press conference on Wednesday during the 2026 KBIZ Leaders Forum at Lotte Hotel Jeju, Kim was asked whether he might run for chairman again in four years.
"I told my staff that I might come back to visit, but I wouldn't come back to work," he said. "It's because the job is so exhausting. That's my honest feeling."
Kim was first elected chairman in 2007 as the federation's 23rd leader and served until 2015. He returned as its 26th chairman in 2019 and won re-election in 2023. His current term, which brings his total time as chairman to 16 years, runs through February next year. Under the Small and Medium Enterprise Cooperatives Act, a chairman may serve only one consecutive re-election, meaning Kim cannot run in the upcoming election but could seek the post again after sitting out one term.
Kim cited the introduction of a system linking subcontracting payments to changes in raw material costs, improvements to the business succession system and revisions to rules governing joint activities by SME cooperatives as his major achievements.
"If the relevant bills are finalized in the current National Assembly, all three major tasks will be complete," Kim said. "There will always be new issues to address because work related to small and medium-sized businesses never ends."
Kim said professional competence should be the top qualification for the next chairman.
"An election is a tough test," he said. "I hope the next election chooses someone who can do the job well." He added that candidates could be compared based on whether they had built their businesses from the ground up, their export performance and sales. "It is also important to have the character to work with people from different backgrounds and lead them in harmony," he said.
Kim described the chairmanship as an unpaid, nonexecutive position with little formal authority. "Apart from personnel matters, the chairman does not directly run the federation's operations," he said. "Even now, I start checking on work by calling executives at 6 a.m. Improving policies and systems for SMEs is the most important job. It is not a position for putting on airs."
The election for the federation's 28th chairman is scheduled for Feb. 2 next year. Five people are currently being mentioned as potential candidates: Kang Dong-han, chairman of the Korea Forging Industry Cooperative; Park Jang-sun, chairman of the Korea Printing Cooperative Federation; Shim Seung-il, chairman of the Korea High Pressure Gas Industry Cooperative Federation; Lee Jae-kwang, chairman of the Korea Electric Energy Industry Cooperative; and Lee Min-hyung, chairman of the Central Hume Pipe Business Cooperative.
Kim also explained why potential candidates did not attend this year's Leaders Forum.
"The decision was not mine; it was discussed at the board level," he said. "I understand that each candidate was asked to understand the decision because campaigning here could raise concerns about premature electioneering."
He said the campaign period had been extended by 10 days to give voters more time to learn about the candidates, and the election date had been moved forward to allow for a transition before the new chairman takes office. The election will be announced on Dec. 11, with candidate registration scheduled for Jan. 1-2. The official campaign period will run from Jan. 3 through Feb. 1, totaling 30 days, 10 more than before. The new chairman will begin a four-year term on Feb. 28.
Kim said he would focus on helping SMEs adopt artificial intelligence during the remainder of his term.
"Next year, we plan to launch a pilot project with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to develop standardized data at about 10 cooperatives," he said. "SMEs need to adopt AI quickly if South Korea is to become one of the world's three leading AI powers."
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