[New Year's Address] Choi Jung-woo, POSCO Chairman, "Focusing Investment on High-Growth Areas Such as LNG and Food Business"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Choi Jung-woo, Chairman of POSCO, emphasized three key management priorities for this year: ▲ safety and advanced labor-management culture ▲ focus on core businesses ▲ realization of the corporate citizenship management philosophy.

In his New Year's address on the 2nd, Chairman Choi stated, "The year 2020 will be a critical crossroads determining whether we fall into a second-rate company complacent with the present or continue to maintain our prestigious status through change and innovation."

Chairman Choi said, "The domestic and international economic situation in 2020 is expected to remain challenging following last year. However, with the emergence of new mobility, artificial intelligence (AI), and eco-friendly businesses, fields we are focusing on such as secondary battery materials, smart factories, and eco-friendly energy will gain more attention as new growth engines."

He announced that the first of the three major priorities to be pursued this year is to create a safe and pleasant workplace.

Chairman Choi said, "We will strictly adhere to work standards, which are the foundation of safety, and continuously identify and improve potential risk points. With the expansion of smart factories utilizing intelligent CCTV and robots, there must be no negligence in protecting precious lives and health."

He added, "Through the establishment of the newly introduced 8-5 work system, we will create a happy workplace where work and life are balanced. We must nurture creative digital talents suited for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era and further develop an advanced labor-management culture based on coexistence and cooperation."

Secondly, he stated that there will be relentless business evolution and focus on core businesses.

Chairman Choi said, "The steel business will establish an integrated marketing system targeting eco-friendly vehicles to respond to demand industries such as the future new mobility transition, and expand the sales base of eco-friendly and premium steel construction materials by differentiating from existing markets."

He continued, "Group companies will focus investments on sectors with business competitiveness and high growth potential, such as the LNG value chain and food business, according to the newly established mid- to long-term growth direction. The trading business will develop an investment-linked business model, the construction business will restructure its business around core competencies, and the power generation business requires fundamental profitability improvements through system reforms."

In particular, Chairman Choi said, "The group’s future new business, the secondary battery materials business, will expand production capacity for anode and cathode materials and enhance marketing capabilities, while strengthening research and development (R&D) of next-generation products. Utilizing lithium mines in Australia and salt lake resources in Argentina, we will become the first Korean company to commercially produce lithium, a key material for electric vehicle batteries."

Along with this, he said promising items that will become future growth engines centered on new growth domains should be quickly discovered and commercialized, and businesses to be nurtured long-term should swiftly seek opportunities through venture platforms and others.

Lastly, he pledged to realize the corporate citizenship management philosophy.

Chairman Choi said, "By expanding fair and transparent transactions and performance-sharing systems, we will provide fertile ground for capable suppliers to grow. Joint efforts with partner companies to improve quality and support capability enhancement through technology development such as patent licensing will also improve POSCO Group’s operational competitiveness."

He continued, "Now, we will take the corporate citizenship management philosophy, which was systematized last year, as the standard for all management activities, practice it, and establish it as an organizational culture. Although the management environment we will face this year is more uncertain than ever, we will turn it into an opportunity to leap forward one step further through JUMP (Join together, Upgrade value, Move forward, with POSCO)," he added.

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