Kotra taps former Vice Industry Minister Kang Kyung-sung as new chief

Kotra has appointed Kang Kyung-sung as its new head, aiming to enhance Korea's global trade position.

Kang Kyung-sung, the new president of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra), delivers his inaugural speech at Kotra's headquarters in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Monday. [KOTRA]

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) appointed Kang Kyung-sung, former vice minister of trade, industry and energy, to head the state-backed organization dedicated to promoting Korea’s trade and investment.

Kang emphasized Kotra’s role as a global business hub and expressed a strong commitment to the agency’s mission to transform Korea into one of the world’s top five export nations, an investment hub and a global trade powerhouse at his inaugural speech at Kotra’s headquarters in Secho Distrct, southern Seoul, on Monday.

“Kotra’s role is to attract foreign technology, capital, talent and resources to Korea, thereby strengthening the nation’s economic and industrial global competitiveness,” he said, vowing to make the organization a steppingstone to enhance the nation’s industrial ecosystem.

The new president also called for continuous support for the export process in the sectors of nuclear energy, biotechnology and defense and suggested that Kotra’s network of overseas branches be used as global business infrastructure.

Kang is recognized as a policy expert across industrial sectors, having served as the presidential secretary for industrial policy during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, as well as the first and second vice trade minister between 2023 and 2024. He has headed policy departments for the nuclear and oil industries and held director-general positions of energy resources, trade and investment and industrial policy within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]