[Exclusive] Prime Minister Kim Holds Relay Meetings with Large Corporations... LG Group Follows Samsung

Youth Job Creation Ambitious Moves... Hyundai Motor-SK Group Also Coordinating Schedules

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum (left) and LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum will meet LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo following his meeting with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to discuss youth employment projects. This move aims to expand the youth job creation initiative that Prime Minister Kim has been actively promoting since taking office. Meetings with other major conglomerates such as Hyundai Motor Group and SK Group are also expected to follow sequentially.

According to business circles on the 16th, Chairman Koo and Prime Minister Kim are arranging a meeting to discuss the youth employment project. Both sides are finalizing the schedule, and the meeting is expected to take place as early as this month.

This meeting is part of the government’s job support initiative, the ‘Youth Hope ON’ project, which Prime Minister Kim is focusing on. Starting with KT on the 7th, Kim has been expanding this project. On the 14th, as the second phase of the project, Prime Minister Kim met with Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who pledged to create 30,000 youth jobs. At the meeting, Vice Chairman Lee said, "We will do our best to support the hopes of young people."

LG is expected to seek the creation and expansion of jobs in future growth sectors. Since Chairman Koo’s inauguration in 2018, LG has been focusing on nurturing and securing talent. In particular, to accelerate digital transformation (DX) and foster new growth engines, LG has concentrated on selecting young talent in future fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and automotive electronics. Recently, LG announced plans to train 1,000 AI experts and operate university-based contracted departments for recruitment to nurture talent in smart home, automotive, and AI sectors.

Previously, at the end of 2017, former Chairman Koo Bon-moo held a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon, announcing a plan to invest 19 trillion won and recruit 10,000 new employees in 2018. Since then, LG Electronics, the main affiliate, recruited nearly 10,000 new employees in 2018 alone, and for three years from that point, the number of new hires under 30 steadily increased, creating 7,869 jobs last year.

With Samsung and LG joining the government’s youth employment project, additional participation from other major domestic companies is expected to follow.