SK Chairman Chey Tae-won Meets POSCO Chairman Choi Jung-woo for 'Lunchbox Sharing'

SK 'Social Value', POSCO 'Corporate Citizenship' Symbiosis
Choi Tae-won’s First Move This Year Ahead of Appointment as Chairman of KCCI
Focus on Strengthening Ties in Electric Vehicle and Hydrogen Businesses

Choi Jung-woo, Chairman of POSCO (left), and Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, are posing for a commemorative photo at the "2019 Corporate Citizen POSCO Performance Sharing Event" held on December 3, 2019, at the POSCO Center on Teheran-ro, Seoul, under the theme "Companies Become Citizens."

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won carried out volunteer activities on the 29th together with POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo. This is the second corporate social responsibility action following their meeting in December 2019, where they shared social values and the corporate citizenship management philosophy.

According to SK and POSCO, Chairman Chey Tae-won visited POSCO’s Pohang Steelworks on the day and met with Chairman Choi Jeong-woo. After lunch, the two chairmen toured the steelworks site and then participated in a ‘lunchbox sharing’ volunteer activity.

This meeting was arranged when POSCO invited Chairman Chey Tae-won to a volunteer activity planned as part of its ‘Corporate Citizenship’ initiative. The two had previously met once in December 2019 on the themes of ‘social value’ and ‘corporate citizenship.’ Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, who declared ‘Corporate Citizenship’ as a management philosophy after his inauguration, shared its achievements, and Chairman Chey Tae-won, who has been emphasizing ‘social value,’ attended as a special lecturer.

While their first meeting was a venue to share corporate social responsibility, this time it is meaningful in that the two are directly practicing volunteer work. The volunteer activity organized by POSCO on this day is similar in nature to SK Group’s recently launched ‘One Meal Sharing On(tact) Project (Ontact Project).’ Since last year, Chairman Chey Tae-won has emphasized building a ‘social safety net’ and the role of companies in the COVID-19 era. Accordingly, from this month, SK has been ordering lunchboxes from small restaurants to increase their sales and providing these lunchboxes to vulnerable groups who have difficulty eating. SK also allocated the budget for this year’s group New Year’s party to the Ontact Project.

In particular, Chairman Chey Tae-won is expanding social responsibility and external communication ahead of his expected appointment as the next chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). POSCO’s lunchbox sharing volunteer activity is known as his first external activity of the year and his last move before the KCCI appointment. His earlier visit to SK Bioscience was largely in the context of a Blue House event attended for the president’s visit. At the end of last year, he even transformed into a ‘cookbang (cooking broadcast) YouTuber’ and personally made yukgaejang (spicy beef soup) for SK Group employees.

This meeting is also expected to strengthen business relations between the two companies. SK is expanding its electric vehicle battery business through SK Innovation, while POSCO supplies cathode and anode materials to domestic and overseas battery companies including SK Innovation. Additionally, both are accelerating their hydrogen business. SK Group established a ‘Hydrogen Business Promotion Team’ directly under the CEO for its hydrogen energy business. SK Inc. is also reviewing investments in electric vehicle and hydrogen businesses by forming a joint fund with ‘Geely,’ China’s top automaker. POSCO has announced a vision to lead the decarbonization era by establishing a hydrogen production system of 5 million tons by 2050.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s board is scheduled to unanimously appoint Chairman Chey Tae-won as the successor to Chairman Park Yong-man on the 1st of next month. If Chairman Chey is appointed as the chairman of the Seoul Chamber of Commerce and Industry on that day, he will be officially elected as chairman at the extraordinary general meeting of members held on the 23rd of next month.

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