Jeongwoo Choi POSCO Group (POSCO Holdings (005490)) The chairman has not attended four presidential office events in a row this year. In the business world, there are also rumors that President Choi plans to arrange business trips around the same time as the date of the event to create a justification for not attending as he is under pressure to resign. POSCO explained that it was difficult for Chairman Choi to attend the presidential event due to a pre-planned schedule.
Chairman Choi did not appear at the Korea Small and Medium Business Conference 2030 held on the lawn in front of the Presidential Office Building in Yongsan, Seoul on the 23rd. Lee Jae-yong at the event Samsung Electronics (005930) Chairman, Chey Tae-win SK(034730)Chairman of the Group, Chung Eui-sun Hyundai Motor (005380)Chairman of the Group, Koo Kwang-mo LG(003550)Group Chairman, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan, Heo Tae-soo GS(078930)Heads of nine groups attended, including group chairman Jung Ki-sun, president of HD Hyundai, and Chung Yong-jin, vice chairman of Shinsegae Group. POSCO is the 5th largest group in terms of total assets, and only Chairman Choi was left out of the total number of the top 10 groups (excluding Nonghyup).
An official from the presidential office said, “The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses, which hosted the event, did not invite Chairman Choi because it was difficult to meet the schedule due to a business trip abroad.”
POSCO explained that it was difficult for Chairman Choi to attend because he was on a business trip to India. On the 21st, Chairman Choi visited JSW’s Vijayanagar steel mill in India and met with Chairman Shazan Jindal, who helped restore the plant from flood damage last year. It is known that Chairman Choi called Chairman Shazan directly and asked for cooperation when the restoration of the factory was delayed due to Typhoon Hinnamno. Chairman Shajan handed over the facilities being produced for the JSW hot rolling mill to POSCO, speeding up the restoration of the factory.
Chairman Choi, who managed to be reappointed in March 2021, in the second half of the Moon Jae-in administration, is under pressure from the Yoon Seok-yeol administration to resign. Choi’s term of office runs until March next year. President Yoon Seok-yeol highlighted the governance structure of companies with dispersed ownership in a business report to the Financial Services Commission on January 30 and said, “If moral hazard can occur, at least the procedures and methods must be maintained in a fair and in a transparent manner.” he said.
Since then, it has become a representative enterprise with distributed ownership in the political world. KT(030200)and POSCO continued to be criticized, and POSCO held a regular meeting of shareholders and a board of directors meeting in March and announced plans to launch a higher governance TF (Task Force) to establish a transparent governance system.
Chairman Choi did not appear at the New Year meeting in the business world on January 2nd. President Yoon attended this event for the first time as president in seven years, and among the major groups, only Chairman Choi and former KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo did not attend. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which hosted the event at the time, explained that it sends invitations to companies and accepts requests for participation. At the time, KT announced that he had been absent due to a staff member’s mistake, and POSCO did not reveal a clear reason for the absence.
Chairman Choi also did not attend President Yoon’s trips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland between January 14 and 21. POSCO explained that Chairman Choi was unable to attend at the time due to flood restoration work in Pohang steel mill.
Chairman Choi also did not attend the schedule of President Yoon’s visit to the United States, which began on April 24, but all the heads of the other 10 groups except POSCO accompanied him. Chairman Choi attended the regular general meeting of the World Steel Association held in Austria from the 17th of last month as the president of the association. POSCO explained that after Chairman Choi attended the regular general meeting of the World Steel Association, there was a schedule to inspect European business sites and meet overseas customers.
POSCO explained that Chairman Chey’s absence from the presidential office event was a management decision. Regarding Chairman Chey’s recent schedule in India, the POSCO official said, “I would go anytime if I was going on a tour in India alone, but I had to meet Chairman Shazan, so it was difficult adjust the schedule at will.”
