HOME > 프로필   | Korean | For more than three decades before taking the helm at the Research Institute for Small & Medium Industries in April 2004, Mr. In-Ho Kim had been a successful technocrat, who established a distinguished career with the Korean government that spanned many facets of public service. His government career culminated in 1996-97 when he was named Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission and, shortly thereafter, Senior Economic Secretary to then President Kim Young-Sam. Before taking these two ministerial-level jobs, Mr. Kim had served in several vice ministerial-level positions within the government, including Administrator of the Korean National Railroad, President of the Consumer Protection Board, and Vice Minister of the Environment. As Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission in 1996, he worked to overhaul relevant laws in a way that encouraged competition and limited the economic power of large firms, while aggressively pursuing investigations into unfair trade practices. His efforts to ban cross-loan guarantees and cross-subsidization within Chaebols(Korean conglomerates), and to introduce consolidated financial statements in financial reporting were pioneer policy proposals at the time. Those measures were implemented under President Kim Dae- Jung's administration. When appointed to head the National Railroad in 1994, Mr. Kim pushed for "customer-oriented management reform" to improve the bureaucratic organization. He proved himself an effective manager of the 40,000-employee operation, which has significant labor union involvement. As Vice Minister of Environment, Mr. Kim played a key role in advancing protective legislation, including the "Resource conservation and waste recycling law" and the "Trans-boundary movement and disposal of hazardous waste law." In addition, he reexamined environmental-related administrative standards while implementing deregulation for more effective enforcement of environmental measures. Mr. Kim's longest tenure in government service, however, was on the Economic Planning Board. He served in this prestigious agency for 25 years (1967-92). As Assistant Minister for International Policy Coordination during the last two years of his EPB career, he took the major role in the formulation and coordination of related policies at inter-governmental level for the Uruguay Round trade talks. During this time, he also worked on devising ways to cooperate with North Korea. For almost three years (1985-88), he held a top position at the EPB Price Policy Bureau. During his service in that post, the Korean economy enjoyed the lowest rate of price hikes in the nation's history. After thirty years of public service, in 1999 he became President of National Strategy Institute, an independent research institute making policy recommendations for the Government. Successively he served as chairman of WISE InfoNet, a private oversea-information contents company, during which time he had a chance to adjust himself to a new life in business. Mr. Kim established the Market Economy Research Institute (MERI) in April 2001 in alliance with SHIN&KIM, one of the largest law firms in Korea. As Chairman of the Institute, he tried a systematic approach toward integrating both the legal and economic aspects of extremely complicated cases facing various business firms. In the meantime, his ongoing concern for the establishment of market principles in all areas of the Korean economy has been also demonstrated through the various activities of MERI. Mr. Kim became President of Research Institute for Small & Medium Industries in April 2004 and is trying to tackle the issues of revitalizing small and medium business firms, recently raised as a most important issue in Korean economy. Mr. Kim is an ardent fan of classical music and has been a yearly subscriber of the KBS Symphony Orchestra for many years. In February 2001, he had an unprecedented opportunity to be "debuted" on the podium as an amateur conductor of that orchestra. That occasion was the first in the history of the nation's premier orchestra in which a non-professional took his place on the conductor's podium. He has published two full-length books: The Return to the Market (Suggestions to Restructuring the Korean Economy) (National Strategy Institute, 1999) and, also, An Economy Flourishing through Competition (Fair Trade Commission, 1997). Mr. Kim is the second son of the late Rev. Young-Whan Kim, a renowned pioneer in the Christian Enlightenment Movement, which was active in the rural areas of Korea beginning in the early 1950s, right after the Korean War. He is married to Mrs. Jin-Ja Lee, and they have two children, both married.