KCCI bows its head over 'fake news' controversy: "We will immediately strengthen research capacity and internal verification"

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According to Financial News, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has decided to immediately introduce measures to prevent a recurrence after it distributed a press release last week proposing inheritance tax policy alternatives, in which it cited statistics released by an external institution without verification.
KCCI stated on the 9th, "We take this matter extremely seriously and plan to significantly strengthen our internal verification system across the entire process of drafting and distributing materials released to the public, so that similar cases will never occur again."
It added that, based on its sense of responsibility as a statutory economic organization, it will immediately begin implementing measures this week to ensure that all materials are prepared responsibly and that facts and statistics are thoroughly checked for accuracy.
KCCI chairman Chey Tae-won, who is currently on a business trip to the United States, was briefed on the issue and strongly reprimanded the KCCI Secretariat, saying, "As a responsible institution, KCCI should have examined the data much more carefully. Please make every effort to ensure that something like this never happens again."
KCCI has first decided to carry out a comprehensive overhaul of its internal systems. To improve its ability to verify the reliability of statistics and to strengthen analytical capacity, it will immediately introduce training programs for staff in charge of research and surveys and then expand related training to all employees.
In addition, to make multi-layered verification of facts and statistics mandatory, KCCI has designated an executive with statistical analysis expertise, Park Yang-soo, head of KCCI SGI, as the executive in charge of fact-checking as of today. Park, formerly with the Bank of Korea (BOK), holds a PhD in economics from the University of Illinois and has served as director general of economic statistics and head of the Economic Research Institute at the BOK. Since 2023, he has been serving as head of KCCI SGI.
KCCI also plans to introduce a verification system under which independent external experts will be brought in to conduct an additional review, in order to ensure thorough scrutiny of materials released to the public and to communicate its messages accurately.
Separately from the audit by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, KCCI will conduct its own review to determine where responsibility lies and will hold those responsible appropriately accountable.
KCCI pledged that by strengthening its internal verification system, it will enhance the credibility of its public statements, provide accurate and transparent information to the public, and do its utmost to ensure that companies grow together with the nation and its people.
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one1@fnnews.com Jung Won-il Reporter