LG Corp. Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo meets with a kid suffering from low growth at a ceremony to donate the medication Eutropin worth 1 billion won at the LG Twin Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on July 27. (Photo: LG Group)

LG Corp. Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo participated in a ceremony to donate the medication Eutropin worth 1 billion won at the LG Twin Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on July 27. It marked his first official event since he took office as vice chairman of the holding company of LG Group, replacing Vice Chairman Ha Hyun-hwoi, who took Kwon’s previous job as LG Uplus CEO.

The low growth drug Europin products, donated by LG Welfare Foundation are for 111 kids. Vice Chairman Kwon was quoted as saying that they are hoped to become gifts to deliver hope and courage, not just a therapeutic agent. The donation program is one of the representative social contribution activities LG Group has conducted for 24 years.

In his first personnel change since LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo was inaugurated, the group appointed Kwon to be LG Corp. vice chairman. Kwon, 61, is a seasoned manager who has been climbing the hierarchy for 40 years since he entered LG Electronics’ planning team as a freshman employee. He held prominent positions, including LG Display president, LG Chem president in battery business, and LG Uplus vice chairman & CEO.

He has built his career with stints at such major subsidiaries as LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Chem and LG Uplus. While serving as president of LG Display and LG Chem, Kwon earned fame by elevating LG as the global No. 1 maker in the LCD panel and EV battery segments. Under the stewardship of Vice Chairman Kwon, LG Uplus has come a long way to chalk up 1 trillion won in annual operating profit by successfully tapping the IPTV business.

Vice Chairman Kwon is well known as a veteran manager well versed in financial affairs among the six vice chairmen of the group. It is the reason LG Group Chairman Koo tapped Kwon as the second highest ranking official of the group. Vice Chairman Kwon’s appointment may be interpreted as Group Chairman Koo’s scheme to stabilize the group by solving pending issues surrounding the inheritance, stemming from the sudden death of the late chairman and father Koo Bon-moo.

Group Chairman Koo and LG Corp. Vice Chairman Kwon maintained close relationships while working together at LG Electronics. Kwon served as chief financial officer of LG Electronics when Chairman Koo entered the financial department of the company. Vice Chairman Kwon is now also tasked with exploring future growth engines and ramping up the competitiveness of the group’s mainstay businesses. Under the stewardship of Chairman Koo, LG Group has future agendas and tasks, including how to restructure businesses and explore new growth engines.

LG Group is in a clutch situation under the stewardship of Chairman Koo, the fourth-generation chairman of the founder of the group. The group with 72 subsidiaries is evaluated to is finally sound with 160 trillion won in sales. In particular, LG Group finds not easy to depend too much on the household appliance and TV segments, its current cash cows, to overcome rapid changes of future business conditions. LG Electronics will have to turn around the sagging smartphone business, which suffered a setback for the 13th consecutive quarter. LG Display, once a cash cow of the group, is grappling with China’s oversupply as the company turned to losses starting the first quarter of the year.

The automotive application component and photovoltaic power generation businesses, emerging as the group’s future growth engines, will have to wait for some time to bear tangible fruits.