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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Industrials

POSCO CEO offers to resign

  • PUBLISHED :April 18, 2018 - 12:57
  • UPDATED :April 18, 2018 - 13:55
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[THE INVESTOR] Kwon Oh-joon, CEO of Korean steel giant POSCO, is stepping down two years before his term ends, the firm said on April 18.

The board of directors held a meeting in the morning and accepted his resignation. But he will stay in his post until the company finds his replacement.

"I think someone more passionate, more capable and younger should lead the company,” the 69-year old CEO told reporters after the board meeting. He also said that POSCO needs many changes in order to survive over the next 100 years, and that the most important change should come with the CEO. 


Posco Chairman and CEO Kwon Oh-joon



Kwon took the helm of POSCO in March 2014 and his term was renewed in March last year, extending it to March 2020. The steelmaker celebrated its 50 year anniversary on April 1. 

Kwon’s resignation came after some media reports that the prosecutor’s office might initiate an investigation on POSCO’s involvement in the Lee Myeong-bak government’s dubious development projects.

The allegations added pressure on Kwon who was already grilled by prosecutors due to POSCO’s involvement in the Choi Soon-sil scandal.

Some speculate that his resignation follows a custom in which POSCO was forced to change its leadership whenever a new administration takes office. Every time, the company and the CEO said the resignation was due to other reasons.

However, the government may have had something to do with it considering that Kwon was excluded from business delegation groups that accompanied President’s Moon Jae-in’s four overseas visits.

Privatized in 2000, the government has no stake in the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker by output. The two largest shareholders are the National Pension Service, which holds a 10.79 percent stake and global asset management company BlackRock, which owns 6.22 percent.

Following the news, shares of the KOSPI-listed company jumped more than 3 percent to 343,000 won (US$321.68).

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)

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