Chairman-Nominee Noh Pledges to Boost Livelihoods of People in the Fisheries Industry

Noh Dong-jin, who was elected as 26th chairman of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, poses after he received a document of election at the Korea National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do on Feb. 17. (Photos: Suhyup)

The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, known as Suhyup, held the second extraordinary general meeting at Suhyup headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul on Feb. 16 and elected Noh Dong-jin, former head of the Jeonju Fisheries Cooperative, as 26th chairman of Suhyup.

New Suhyup Chairman-nominee Noh was elected with 47 votes, the most out of those caste in a runoff. Candidates failed to win a majority in a preliminary vote and Noh was elected in the subsequent run-off.

During his electioneering campaign, Chairman-nominee Noh pledged to uphold “Enriching People in the Fisheries Industry,” build a comprehensive system to support the construction of fisheries villages, expand subsidies and loans to those in the industry and for cooperative members, establish a sea environment preservation regime by establishing a special committee on preserving the sea environment, and ease fisheries industry people’s management burden through tax and institutional reform.

In his acceptance speech upon his election, Chairman-nominee Noh said, “I’ll execute on the public pledges I made during my election campaign and recommendations I got from cooperative heads on the campaign trails across the nation, and take the initiative to support cooperatives and fisheries industry people in accordance with the purpose of the establishment of Suhyup.”

Chairman-nominee Noh is to be inaugurated on March 27. His term is four years.

“Suhyup will mobilize all its capabilities ,lest fisheries industry people get frustrated and we’ll make a fresh start to make preparations for the next 100 years,” Noh said.

“I will concentrate on reorganizing Suhyup into a horizontal structure and facilitating communication with filed cooperatives,” he said.

Chairman-Noh stressed Suhyup’s intrinsic roles. “It is necessary to secure more profit, but Suhyup’s principal purpose is to enrich field cooperatives,” he said.

Chairman-nominee Noh emphasized communication with field cooperatives He said Suhyup will decide core tasks after discussing one by one with about 90 cooperative members across the nation.

Suhyup has assets worth 14 trillion own. It has subsidiaries, such as Suhyup Bank with assets worth 51 trillion won and Noryangjin Fisheries Market.

Chairman-nominee Noh has lots of tasks to be tackled on his shoulders.

Suhyup will have to provide support to shift Suhyup Bank into a financial group starting the second half of this year.

Suhyup will have to resume the Noryangjin Development Project, which was put on hold last year.

A view of Suhyup headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul.