French Firms Blast Gov't for Poor Communication

The Moon Jae-in administration needs to communicate more with French and other foreign companies about its controversial income-led and other economic policies, the head of the French business chamber said Thursday.

"We lack dialogue with the government," French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) Chairman David-Pierre Jalicon told The Korea Times on the sidelines of the FKCCI's annual economic seminar, Economic Forecasts 2019, in Seoul.

"We understand and respect a lot of structural reform in Korea, but there are uncertainties and we need to organize ourselves in the progress of implementation," Jalicon said.

We need dialogue with the current government to find the best way to implement those reforms without damaging the business sentiment too much and to make sure it's not something which can be seen as a little bit of worry.

His remarks were aimed at the Moon government's income-led policy, highlighted by the statutory minimum wage hike and a 52-hour-per-week limit on working hours. Jalicon said that those regulations were still ambiguous, thus foreign firms needed clarification through dialogue.

His remarks were supported by FKCCI Economic Department Head Michel Drobniak, who delivered a negative view on Korea's economy for this year, especially on Moon's income-led policy.

"The (Korean) government remains committed to its income-led growth agenda and there is no major change in that direction," Drobinak said. "To question that was it helpful for the economy, I think the answer was rather no...