Kumho Asiana Group Chairman 

Park Sam-koo (photo: Kumho Asiana)

Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo designated the year 2014 as the year for achieving the “2nd founding” of the group.

Chairman Park said in a New Year’s gathering at the group’s headquarters in Seoul on Jan. 2, “Let’s see that Kumho Asiana is reborn as a beautiful company by achieving sales and operation profit goals and completing workout programs of the group’s major subsidiaries seamlessly.” 

“We’ll have to accomplish this year’s management goals of posting 12.15 billion won in sales and 710 billion won in operating profit without fail to complete the second founding, and the outlook is very bright as the global economy has shown signs of recovery and the Korean economy is predicted to grow 3.9 percent,” he said.

The chairman expressed his strong determination to normalize at the earliest date Kumho Tire and Kumho Industrial Co., the group’s major subsidiaries, both of which are now undergoing debt workout programs. 

“Kumho Tire will be a reborn as a company producing high-quality products by forming a strategic alliance with Yokohama Tire and dedicating the Yongin Research Institute, and Kumho Industrial Co. will rise to be the group’s holding company by completing its restructuring,” he said. 

“Kumoho Asiana’s ultimate goal is to become a beautiful company, and each of us will be asked to play our role in our own area since a beautiful company means a corporation walking with its staff, winning the trust of its customers, and contributing to society.”

Kumho Asiana Chmn. Park Seeking to Improve Ties with Vietnam

Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park discussed ways to elevate the economic partnership between Korea and Vietnam with Vietnam’s Vice Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who arrived in Seoul on Jan. 19 at the invitation of the Korea Foundation.

In the gathering at the Westin Chosun Hotel, Phuc extended thanks to Chairman Park and Kumho Asiana for being actively engaged in business investment, cultural exchanges and corporate cultural activities across Southeast Asian countries.

In return, Chairman Park said, “Kumho Asiana will do its best to contribute to the economic development of Korea and Vietnam, and enhance the relationship between the two countries.” 

Kumho Asiana has greatly contributed to the exchange of personnel and materials between the two countries. The Korean group has business interests in the Southeast Asian country. 

Kumho E&C, which established a branch office in Ho Chi Minh City in 1995 and Hanoi in 2007, is now undertaking public and private projects. 

Kumho Tire has a passenger car tire plant and a natural rubber processing plant in Vietnam, which were established in 2008 and 2007, respectively. The tire plant has the capacity to produce 3.3 million tires annually. 

Asiana Airlines became the first Korean airliner to launch flights to Ho Chi Minh City in 1993. The Korean airline, which has expanded its operations to Hanoi and Da Nang, has become the Korean national flag carrier operating the largest number of flights between Korean and Vietnam.