Memorial Ceremony for the 2nd Anniversary of Late Chairman Gu Bon-mu... Tribute with Video Featuring His Life

Former Chairman Achieved 4th Largest Growth in Business Sector Over 23 Years
Led Global No.1 in Large OLED and Automotive Batteries

At the first anniversary memorial service of the late Koo Bon-moo, former chairman of LG Group, in 2019, Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group, is seen offering flowers.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] On the 20th, marking the 2nd anniversary of the passing of the late Koo Bon-moo, former chairman of LG Group, LG Group employees commemorated him by watching a video on the company’s internal bulletin board.

According to LG Group, last year’s first anniversary memorial service was held with about 400 employees, including Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, in attendance, but this year the memorial was replaced with a video showing the late chairman during his lifetime. An LG official explained, "In line with the late chairman’s philosophy of avoiding formalities and living simply, we replaced the event with a video as a modest tribute without any special ceremonies."

The late Koo Bon-moo, grandson of LG Group founder Koo In-hwoi and eldest son of Honorary Chairman Koo Ja-kyung, passed away on May 20, 2018, at the age of 73 due to an illness. He joined LG Chem in 1975 and took over the group’s management rights in 1995, 20 years later. When he assumed the chairmanship, LG Group’s sales were only 30 trillion won, but under his leadership, the group grew into the 4th largest conglomerate in Korea with sales of 160 trillion won and assets worth 130 trillion won.

The three-minute memorial video released on this day highlighted the major management activities the late chairman accomplished over 23 years since he became group chairman in 1995. He established core business sectors such as electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications services and transformed the company into Korea’s first holding company structure.

The video also featured his leadership, which declared the "LG Way" and realized customer value through research and development (R&D) management. Thanks to his efforts, LG Group currently produces the world’s only large-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels and has developed automotive batteries into a global number one business.

Following the late chairman’s passing, his only son, then Executive Director Koo Kwang-mo, succeeded as group chairman, marking the first 4th-generation head among Korea’s top 10 conglomerates. Chairman Koo was appointed CEO of the holding company LG Corp. on June 29, 2018, 40 days after the late chairman’s death, and officially became the group’s head through the Fair Trade Commission’s designation of the same person for the large business group on May 15 last year.

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