hankyoreh

promoted resently in their family run companies. From left

Owners of South Korea’s family-run industrial conglomerates, or chaebol, have stepped up their efforts to transfer managerial control to their third-generation offspring by promoting them to executive-level posts. Some critics accuse the conglomerates of promoting their family members in a relatively shorter period than that of ordinary employees.

On December 28, Korean Air, South Korea’s largest carrier, announced it had promoted the company chairman Cho Yang-ho’s only son, 30-year-old Cho Won-tae, and his eldest daughter, 32-year-old Cho Hyun-ah, to the level of executive vice president.

Regarding the promotion of the Cho siblings, Korean Air said, "Their ability was recognized and the promotion should be viewed as part of management practice."

Cho Won-tae started his career as a deputy general manager of Korean Air in October 2004 after graduating from Inha University. He was promoted to the executive-level post 11 months after being appointed head of the procurement team in January last year. Cho Hyun-ah became executive vice president after two years of work for the company.

On the same day, Hyundai Group appointed group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun’s eldest daughter, 30-year-old Chung Ji-yi, as senior vice president of Hyundai U&I, the group’s computer services arm. Chung started her career at a foreign advertising agency in Seoul, but entered the group’s shipping branch in January 2004 after her father committed suicide.

"Senior vice president Chung was promoted due to her extraordinary performance," a group official said.

On December 19, GS Caltex hired its chairman Heo Dong-soo’s eldest son, 37-year-old Heo Se-hong, as the company’s executive vice president. Park Se-chang, 31, a son of Kumho Asiana Group chairman Park Sam-koo, was also promoted to the executive level at the group’s strategy and management headquarters.

Hansung University professor Kim Sang-jo said that recently, chaebol owners have stepped up their practice of familial managerial succession, "as a decade of restructuring is nearly completed since the 1997-98 financial turmoil. In today’s open economic environment, it’s a risk for the chaebol owners to transfer management control to their offspring, whose ability has not yet been tested."

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