Samyang Group holds a ceremony for the group’s mountain climbing 

team to scale the key mountains in the Taebaek Mountain Range in

 Kochang, South Jeolla Province.(photo: Samyang Group)

The Samyang Group held a group-wide lunch at its head office in Yonji-dong, downtown Seoul on Aug. 30 with the theme “Lunch with the CEO without Reservations,” in an effort to keep in-house communication smooth and open among all levels of the group including top management and staff, the group said recently.

The matter-of-fact lunch was an occasion to share the importance of the operations at all levels of the group through no-holds-barred discussions on all matters regarding the group and its affiliates, especially any major issues and problems they are faced with. Chairman Kim Yoon sat with the group’s resin marketing team in the conference room of the group head office and he will continue to have lunches with all 238 members of the 31 teams until May of next year.

A staff member said it was a good chance to hear directly what the chairman had to say on the operation of the group, a big help for the members of the staff to figure out what they need to do for the company. They said they have a high regard for the chairman who often tours the jobsites, stressing the importance of communication at all levels of the group, especially new hires since he became the chairman of the group in 2004. He has always attended the final interviews for successful candidates and has met with the new employees every year to learn more about them through his “Conversation with the CEO.”

He also regularly attends meetings of the Change & Challenge Board whose members include section heads and staff with the task of creating a dynamic atmosphere in the group by mixing creativity and sensitivity of the new young employees in an effort to strengthen his “skinship” management style.

Since taking over as president in 1996, Chairman Kim has always believed that true answers to various problems for the company can come from the jobsites and every staff member should work without being told what to do, which would make each one of them a model to lead the organization, stressing the critical importance of the jobsites.

In the meantime, Samyang Group on Sept. 27 held a ceremony for the group’s mountain climbing team to scale the key mountains in the Taebaek Mountain Range in Kochang, South Jeolla Province, where the famous mountain range’s southern edge ends. The team, consisting of 1,300 of the group’s executives and staff, will climb such key mountains in the range including Jiri, Dokyu, Sobaek, Odae, Taebaek, and Sorak, divided into 90 sections in a relay fashion with each team scaling a mountain per week over a 90-day period. The total length of the range stretches for 935 km. The teams will  continue to climb those mountains until October next year when the group celebrates its 90th anniversary.

Chairman Kim said at the ceremony for the launch of the mountain climbing team that they need to conquer many obstacles for the group to celebrate the centennial of its founding following the 90th anniversary next year and they can do it if they are united. He added that they should continue the group’s long history with the self-confidence and courage they acquired while climbing those mountains.

 After the ceremony, the chairman led some 200 executives and staff to climb Mt. Sonwoon in celebration of the 89th anniversary. They started climbing at 10 a.m. and covered a distance of 11 km over a six-hour period. The hiking course included an ecological forest plaza at the foot of the mountain, the Sonwoon Temple, Mai Hill, Suri Peak, Chonma Peak, Dosol Cliff, and a return to the Ecological Forest Plaza. They held a ceremony for the 89th anniversary after the hike at a restaurant at the foot of Sonwoon Mountain.

They reflected on the founding ideals of the late chairman Kim Yon-soo who launched Samyang Co. in 1924, which were summed up as “Just and Trust,” the two key words in running the company.