LS Group Chairman Christopher Koo makes an inspection tour to a specialized cable production line of LS Hongqi Cable & System, a Chinese operation of LS Cable & System (LS C&S) in Yichang City, HUbei Province, China, on Oct. 10. (Photos: LS Group)

LS Group Chairman Christopher Koo toured LS Hongqi Cable & System, a Chinese operation of LS Cable & System (LS C&S) in Yichang City, Hubei Province, along with LS Corp.

Vice Chairman Lee Kwang-woo from Oct. 10 to Oct. 11. Chairman Koo met with Yichang officials to discuss ways of promoting business collaboration. Koo also gave words of encouragement to LS Hongqi Cable & System officials.

They visited LS Hongqi Cable & System and looked at production processes of mainstay products, such as super-voltage cables and specialized industry cables, and they got a briefing on the current status of the company from the head of the Chinese regional headquarters.

LS Group Chairman Koo met with Chinese government and Yichang city officials, including the Yichang City party secretary and vice mayor. Both sides agreed to cement business collaboration with the Chinese government and discussed new ways of promoting cooperation.

LS Hongqi Cable & System has five plants at a site covering 340,000 sq. meters and employees about 400 workers. The company is a production operation specializing in extra-high voltage cable, wiring, and specialized industry cables.

LS Hongqi Cable & System was inaugurated in 2009 after acquiring Yongding Hongqi Cable as part of efforts to expand the group’s global business turf.

At an initial stage following the acquisition, LS Hongqi Cable & System focused on expansionary policy strategies. Starting 2013, the company began to shift into a value-added portfolio and it has secured a foundation to make a leap forward by expanding the portion of super-voltage cables, value-added ones.

Thanks to the strategy, LS Hongqi Cable & System managed to land a 58 billion won extra-high voltage underground cable contract from the Ministry of Electricity and Water of Kuwait. The company has gone from strength to strength to see sales jump from $133 million in 2017 to $210 billion last year.

During his meeting with Chinese government officials, Chairman Koo said China is one of Korea’s biggest trade partner countries, and if both sides explore and push cooperative models by making the most of each other’s strengths, they will lead in the global markets in the electricity and energy sectors.

He expressed hope LS Hongqi Cable & System will play a bridge for close cooperation of both countries and evolve into a power infrastructure center of Northeast Asia.

LS Group entered China by setting up an industrial complex covering 330,000 sq. meters in Wuxi, China, in 2005. LS Cable & System, LSIS, LS Mtron and other major subsidiaries of the group have established 12 production operations and research institutes in Muxi, Dailian, Qingdao, and Yichang. They are exploring global markets in cooperation with Chinese companies.

Chairman Koo has showed a keen interest in the group’s operations in China. Last November, he participated in 2018 China International Import Expo held in Shanghai and got briefings on the current status of businesses from the group’s China regional headquarters and chiefs of operations in China.

Seeing Chinese companies’ leap forward at CES held in the United States in January 2018, Chairman Koo said that LS, focusing on mainstay businesses such as power, automation and power grid, would have to make China a land of opportunities, not a threat.

A view of LS Tower in Yongsan, Seoul.