Korean businesspeople seeking RI partners

JAKARTA (JP): Eight people representing small and medium businesses from Kumi city, South Korea, are seeking partners in Indonesia to set up electronics and clothing joint ventures.

Kumi Mayor Kwan-Yong Kim, who headed the trade mission, said yesterday the delegation represented about 1,000 small and medium businesses in Kumi which were searching for similar partners in Indonesia.

Kumi, in southeastern South Korea, is known as the South Korean center for electronics, where big electronics firms such as Samsung and Goldstar are headquartered. The city contributes about 8 percent of South Korea's total exports.

Kim said high wages in South Korea had forced firms to move their factories to low-wage countries.

Some big companies from Kumi, including Samsung and Goldstar, are operating in Indonesia.

The director of the South Korean Trade Center's Jakarta office, Seok-Hyun Park, said Indonesian businesspeople interested in partnerships with those from Kumi's small and medium businesses need not worry about market prospects since their joint ventures would produce goods for companies like Samsung and Goldstar.

The Kumi mayor said his municipality had opened a new park for industrial projects, including foreign investors'.

The delegation will depart here tomorrow to continue its mission in Dubai, Amman and Amsterdam. (jsk)