Lee Seung-woo, the new president of Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO), gives his inaugural speech.

“KOSPO will devote itself to being reborn as a top-flight power generation public entity by coping with climate change and the energy paradigm shift,” said Lee Seung-woo too, the new president of Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO).

He made the remarks while taking office as the ninth president of KOSPO. The inauguration took place at the fourth floor auditorium of the Busan International Finance Center KOSPO on April 26.

At his inauguration ceremony, which took place online, President Lee unveiled four promises that are designed to make KOSPO a new entity.

President Lee was born in Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do, in 1968. He graduated from Bomun High School and Sungkyunkwan University Mechanic Engineering Department.

Lee began his public servant career after passing the 27th higher technology examination. He held positions, such as director-general in charge of product safety policy at the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) and KATS administrator. He also served as a board member of the ISO Council and director of the General Administration Support Center of KOTRA.

In his inaugural speech, President Lee said, “As the world is facing with an era of energy paradigm shift, the government declared a vision of 2050 carbon neutrality last year and our society has begun to challenge a shift into a low-carbon economic and social structure.”

New KOSPO President Lee poses with POSCO officials after declaring ‘four promises designed to make KOSPO a new entity.” (Photos: KOSPO)

In particular, he said the energy sector is an essential field in determining whether carbon neutrality can make it or not. A power public entity needs to take the lead in fulfilling its responsibilities and role in the shift into a low-carbon economic and social structure, he said.

Power companies are now tasked with dramatically reducing the portion of coal-fired power generation, which once served as their cash-cow, and hurrying the shift to clean energy fuels.

As a renewal portfolio standard (RPS), increasing renewal energy portion from 10 percent to up to 25 percent goes into force, he said, a more aggressive and massive development and investment into renewable energies are called for.

Lee said he will devote himself to spearheading an energy paradigm shift for carbon neutrality and making KOSPO an energy public entity growing with people through ESG management.

Reform will be intensified by inaugurating an innovative body under the direct control of the CEO on top of building infrastructure for digital innovation and supporting the cultivating of convergence manpower, he said.

Lee said he will make every effort to promote communications and collaboration between labor and management as well as ethics management while striving to make KOSPO a worksite favored by people.

After taking office, President Lee held a session in which he declared four promises to people designed to make KOSPO a new entity and he discussed ways of solving pending issues with executives, division heads and worksite chiefs.

The promises involved four management tenets: elastic growth of the power business, a shift into smart energy, people-oriented ESG management, and the securing of future core capabilities.

As it comes to reform, Lee said, execution is the most important thing. He called for KOSPO to make preparations for a new decade through people-oriented innovation and growing into an globally recognized energy entity going Korea.

During the session of discussions, Lee urged his executives and staffers to solve the pending issues of the power industry through proactive communications and understanding to be reborn as a public entity trusted by people.