The Korea Foreign Company Association elected Kim Jong-shik, head of Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co., as its chairman, the lobby group announced on Monday.

The general meeting of the largest foreign business community in the country voted Kim to replace Shin Bak-je, CEO of NXP Semiconductor, to lead FORCA for the next two years.

“We’re at an important juncture where foreign businesses have become an integral part of growth in Korea. FORCA will strive to merge better with the Korean society,” Kim said in his acceptance speech.

Kim is to lead more than 13,000 foreign business entities doing business in Korea to help create a favorable business environment in terms of legal and taxation policies. Coming into the office, Kim has already introduced a new grouping system within the lobby group to better respond to changes facing each industry.

“We now have opinion leaders in each industry. Their role is to absorb changes in industry landscape and quickly gather interests of foreign businesses and make a constructive response to the change,” Kim told The Korea Herald.

Established in 1977, the private lobby group regularly communicates with policymakers at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy to defend interests of foreign businesses.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)