Kim Wonki: Only 2% of 7,900 "Tariff 119" Consultations Led to In-Depth Support

"Consultations Are a Matter of Survival for Export Companies"
Urgent Need for Direct Linkage to Support

Won-Ki Kim, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

The government's "Tariff Response 119 Comprehensive Counseling Center," established to support export companies affected by the US-China trade conflict, has not been able to translate its high volume of consultations into substantial support, according to recent findings.

On October 17, Wonki Kim, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, cited data submitted by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), revealing that a total of 7,936 consultations were received by the "Tariff Response 119 Comprehensive Counseling Center" between February and September of this year. Of these, 5,568 cases (70%) were inquiries related to tariff verification, followed by 1,635 other inquiries, 475 inquiries about business partners, and 257 cases related to overseas investment.

By type of non-face-to-face consultation, there were 4,169 cases via telephone, 2,965 online, and 802 through KakaoTalk chat. Notably, following President Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariff measures in early April, the number of consultations surged 3.6 times within just two weeks.

However, only 15 out of 710 companies (2.1%) proceeded to receive in-depth consulting, and just 95 companies (13.4%) received export voucher support for tariff response. KOTRA explained, "In-depth consulting requires a separate application process and is limited by budget constraints, so the support rate is inevitably low compared to the number of consultations."

Kim emphasized, "Export companies are seeking not just basic consultations, but substantial government support for their survival," adding, "It is urgent to establish a one-stop system linking consultations directly to support and to expand access to export vouchers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.