The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea has walked the same road of history with Korea.

Having entered the country amid the ashes of the Korean War, it would be no exaggeration to state that the chamber helped rebuild the nation. This year, the chamber marks its 60th anniversary here, a more significant date as in Korea, the 60th birthday, called “hwangap,” is considered one of the most important birthdays.

Founded in 1953, the very year the two Koreas signed an armistice, the chamber was given the mandate to encourage the development of investment and trade with the U.S., Korea’s strongest ally.

The chamber now stands as the largest foreign chamber here with around 2,000 individual members from almost 1,000 member companies.

“We are honored to be a part of the Korean community,” said Pat Gaines, the chairman of AMCHAM.

To promote the expansion of trade and investment partnership between Korea and the United States, AMCHAM has engaged in the active development and promotion of commercial, economic and cultural exchanges. 

AMCHAM plays a vital role as the bridge between the two allies ― as an advisor, a friend and a business partner.

One of the chamber’s main goals is to promote a positive image of member companies in Korea, a key feature considering that business is the foundation of the partnership between the two nations.

It also communicates the ideas and opinions of the members to the Korean and U.S. governments, and other interest groups including trade and industry partners.

Information that would be considered critical to both sides is collected and appropriately disseminated among the members, and based on this knowledge, they are able to conduct business in the most efficient and culturally effective way possible.

Playing a key role is the “Door-Knock” program, under which AMCHAM sends a team of representatives to Washington every spring.

The mission is focused on AMCHAM interest, and is “a strong indication of the importance of today’s trade relationship between Korea and the U.S.,” the chamber says.

It’s also an opportunity for the congressional leaders to recognize the current market situation in Korea, and they are given recommendations on actions that should be taken to reach mutually agreeable solutions to trade problems.

One example of AMCHAM’s commitment is the Partners for Future Foundation, launched in 2000 when Korea was still struggling to get back on its feet in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Based on the assistance and fund-raising by its members, AMCHAM raised nearly $1 million to establish the foundation.

Jeffrey Jones, the founding chairman of the Foundation, was the guiding light for the initiative. The main mission was to help unemployed families in Korea by providing vocational training and education.

“As American companies play a growing role in the Korean economy, many have felt the need to play a role and give back to the economy, in addition to creating high-quality jobs. We created the Foundation so that companies looking for ways to give back to the community could do so easily. Over the past 13 years, we have acquired quite a bit of expertise in the area of corporate social responsibility, and have partnered with many companies to help them find creative and meaningful ways to give back,” said Jeffrey Jones, founding chairman of the Partners for the Future Foundation and former chairman of AMCHAM.

Through generous contributions from multinational and Korean companies and individual sponsors, the Foundation has since 2000 raised over $13 million and provided scholarships for around 2,000 university students.

These scholarships are mostly funded through a corporate matching program called “Race for the Future,” where employees volunteer to donate a certain amount from their pay on a monthly basis, and the company then matches the employee contribution to the Foundation. This fund-raising initiative has gained momentum and today about 1,400 employees from more than 10 companies are donating on a regular basis.

“The companies that are participating in the ‘Race for the Future’ are excited by the notion that the management and employees can join efforts for a meaningful cause ― giving to students in need. It gives me great joy to see them happily encourage further participation from their colleagues and it is these little efforts that make a difference to families in need,” said Kim Hyung-soo, manager of the Partners for the Future Foundation.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)