The Korea Chemical Industry Association (KCIA) held a ceremony to mark the 17th Chemical Day anniversary at The Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Oct. 31.
In a commemorative speech, KCIA Chmn. Shin Hak-cheol, concurrently LG Chem chairman, said, “As outside and inside hard times continue, the chemical industry has been pushing ahead with efforts to restructure businesses to change a crisis into opportunities, and we will do our utmost to restore our competitiveness.”
Chmn. Shin urged the government to faithfully evaluate the chemical industry’s plan to restructure businesses and work out support steps, such as financial, tax and R&D support and regulatory relaxation.
Vice Minister Moon Shin-hak of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR) said, “The speed and timing of business reorganization is significant.”
He said the government will work financial, tax and regulatory reform support measures so that reorganizations can be carried out in a speedy fashion.
Vice Minister Moon said, “The government will soon announce an R&D roadmap for the petrochemical industry to secure the industry’s fundamental competitiveness, and it will focus its support on developing future core technologies to make a high-valued and eco-friendly shift.”
Chemical Day has been observed annually since Oct. 31, 1972 when the nation dedicated the Ulsan Petrochemical Complex as a foundation of the chemical industry.
The anniversary event was attended by about 300 people, including MOTIR Vice Minister Moon, LG Chemical Vice Chairman Shin, concurrently KCIA chairman, and Chmn. Cho Won-il of the Korean Union of Chemical Science and Technology Societies.
The coveted honor went to President Baek Jong-hoon of Kumho Petrochemical, who received the Order of Industrial Service Merit in recognition of the development of the chemical industry and its contribution to the national economy.
President Kim Han-seok of SK Chemical Research Institute was presented with the Order of Industrial Service Merit, Bronze Tower, while Yeom Hyeong-seok, head of the Polyolefin Business at Hanwha Solutions Chemical Division, was decorated with the Industrial Service Medal.
President Baek of Kumho Petrochemical has been in the petrochemical industry for the past 39 years. Baek entered of the former Kumho P&B Chemicals as a career employee and was promoted to chief of the Business Division at Kumho Petrochemical before he took office as CEO of the company in 2021.
Amid the global economic recession, President Baek is evaluated to have shifted into a business portfolio focusing on value-added, specialties through choice and concentration strategies, and built a companywide crisis management regime and laid a sustainable management foundation.
Kumho Petrochemical had posted an operating profit to sales rate of an average of 7.6 percent since 2022 through last year.
President Baek said, “I will devote myself to developing the chemical industry based on expertise and experiences accumulated in terms of technology and management in the petrochemical field for the past 30 years.”
The Presidential Award went to Park Jin-man, a division chief of Korea Industrial Complex Corp., while Kim Ki-yeon, senior researcher with Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Prof. Yang Seong-yoon of Chungnam National University, Eom Moon-ho, a team head of GS Caltex, and President Park Jang-woo of Advanced Nano Products Co, each were awarded with the prime minister’s prize.
Thirty-four people, including Prof. Kang Young-jong of Hanyang University, Prof. Kim Bong-soo of UNIST, and Kim Seok-joon, a project manager with SK Innovation, were presented with the MOTIR minister’s award.
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