"Let's Hold On" Discarded, Safety Net Must Be Rebuilt... Choi Tae-won's Special Mission

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, emphasized the need to reestablish the safety net for society and customers struggling due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). He also urged each affiliate to secure survival conditions to overcome the crisis and to use this situation as an opportunity to innovate the way of working.

According to SK Group on the 25th, Chairman Chey said at the Super-Flexible Pursuit Council held via video conference the previous day, "Seeing the increasing difficulties caused by COVID-19, we are witnessing that the safety net SK has established so far is no longer effective," adding, "It is time to abandon the attitude of 'let's just endure' and weave a safety net with completely new warp and weft."

Chairman Chey diagnosed the current situation as a crisis with a high possibility of recurrence in the future. He said, "In difficult times, companies must build a stronger and more systematic safety net to prevent marginalized organizations or individuals from emerging," and "For this, all affiliates should coldly reexamine existing practices and systems from scratch." SK explained that regarding the safety net emphasized by Chairman Chey, the intention is to find ways to share SK's resources and infrastructure with society, customers, and business partners, such as providing SK training facilities as temporary living facilities for asymptomatic overseas arrivals, and to put these into practice.

Additionally, Chairman Chey urged each company to strive to secure survival conditions to overcome the unprecedented crisis at the meeting. He emphasized, "As market difficulties accelerate, each company must work to secure resources and capabilities for survival on its own and gain investors' trust in sustainability."

Along with this, Chairman Chey expressed gratitude to the members who are fulfilling their duties even amid the crisis. He especially encouraged those who must stay on-site due to the nature of their work to take pride in their dedication not only to SK but also to the nation.

The Super-Flexible Pursuit Council is a unique management consultative body of SK Group, consisting of CEOs of 16 major affiliates. Although Chairman Chey usually does not attend, he participated directly in the latter part of the meeting to deliver a special message. The meeting was attended by Chairman Chey, Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won, Chairman Cho Dae-sik of the Super-Flexible Pursuit Council, as well as CEOs belonging to the Strategy Committee including Jang Dong-hyun, president of SK Inc., Kim Jun, CEO of SK Innovation, Park Jung-ho, president of SK Telecom, Yoo Jung-jun, president of SK E&S, and Lee Seok-hee, president of SK Hynix.

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