SK Inno "Cannot Accept LG's Settlement Proposal... Committed to Legal Procedures"

Lee Myung-young, Chief Financial Officer, "ITC Has Not Determined Trade Secret Infringement"
Off-Exchange Speculation Likely to Continue Until U.S. President's Veto Deadline on the 11th of Next Month

At the SK Innovation shareholders' meeting held on the 26th, Chief Financial Officer Myung-Young Lee, who presided as the chairman, is delivering a greeting.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] SK Innovation stated on the 26th at its regular shareholders' meeting that it will "do its best in the remaining legal procedures" regarding the ongoing battery dispute with LG Energy Solution. It also made clear that it cannot accept the settlement proposal presented by LG Energy Solution as is. This response follows LG Chem's statement at its shareholders' meeting the previous day expressing its intention to "respond strictly," and the off-the-record verbal exchanges between the two companies are expected to continue until the U.S. president's veto deadline on the 11th of next month.

At the SK Innovation shareholders' meeting held that day, Lee Myung-young, Chief Financial Officer and chairman of the meeting, apologized for causing concern due to the ITC lawsuit issue, saying, "While the ITC acknowledged that it is unclear what constitutes trade secrets, it did not make a factual judgment on whether there was a trade secret infringement, which is the essence of the case, citing inadequate document management as the reason."

He pointed out that LG Energy Solution's claims were ambiguous and expressed regret that the ITC accepted such claims. Although he did not directly mention LG Energy Solution, he noted that their batteries have been recognized for safety, having never experienced a fire incident so far. In contrast, Hyundai Kona and GM Bolt, which use LG batteries, have decided to replace batteries or issue recalls due to successive fires.

Aerial view of SK Battery America's first electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, USA (left) and the construction site

Chairman Lee said, "We will continue to do our best to enhance shareholder and corporate value in the remaining legal procedures," adding, "However, we reiterate that demands from competitors that make continuing the battery business in the U.S. meaningless or significantly reduce competitiveness are unacceptable." The two companies have intermittently met to seek a settlement after the ITC ruling, but SK Innovation considers LG Energy Solution's demanded settlement amount excessively high.

Earlier, SK Innovation's board of directors also reached the same conclusion after recently being briefed on the matter. Although neither company has disclosed specific amounts, the industry estimates that the amount LG is demanding is around 3 trillion won.

Meanwhile, SK Innovation President Kim Jun did not attend this shareholders' meeting as he was on a business trip to the U.S. This is his first trip since the ITC ruling. It is also reported that Kim Jong-hoon, former chief of the trade negotiation office and chairman of SK Innovation's board, recently visited the U.S. and met with officials from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and local political figures. SK has emphasized that if the import ban is enforced after next month following the ITC ruling, the factories it operates or plans to build in Georgia, U.S., will have to close, which would negatively impact electric vehicle expansion plans and local jobs.

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