Promise of Creating 39,000 Jobs by Koo Kwang-mo: "An Important Duty of Companies"

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum (far left) and LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo (far right) are greeting each other on the 21st at LG Science Park located in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. (Photo by LG)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo met with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on the 21st and promised to create 39,000 jobs. Chairman Koo said, "The most important duty of a company is job creation," adding, "We will fulfill the role of the company by leading investments in future advanced fields and creating good, quality jobs."

The government and LG Group signed a partnership for the 'Youth Hope ON Project' on the afternoon of the 21st at LG Science Park located in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. Attending from the government side were Prime Minister Kim, Koo Yoon-chul, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, among others, while LG Group was represented by Chairman Koo, Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo, President Park Il-pyeong of LG Science Park, and President Lee Bang-su.

Chairman Koo stated, "We are continuously considering ways to ensure that job creation spreads beyond LG to society as a whole," adding, "To this end, we will strive to create a virtuous cycle structure that fosters an industrial ecosystem where academia, small and medium enterprises, partner companies, and young startups participate together, grow together, and increase jobs."

He also emphasized, "Growing together with young people is the key to opening the future of companies and, furthermore, the future of the country," and said, "We will actively cooperate so that young people in the Republic of Korea can gain substantial experience, education, and helpful experiences in companies, and eventually be nurtured as global talents."

LG Group plans to directly hire 10,000 young people annually for the next three years, totaling 30,000 youth hires. This represents about a 10% increase from the existing hiring scale.

Additionally, LG will invest 150 billion KRW in startup sectors such as LG Connect and Open Lab to create approximately 2,000 jobs over the next three years. Furthermore, industry-academia cooperation programs, including hiring contract departments, will be expanded to majors such as batteries and artificial intelligence (AI) to create 5,800 jobs, and through ESG (environment, social, governance) programs, 1,200 youth jobs will be created respectively.

Prime Minister Kim expressed gratitude in his opening remarks, saying, "I appreciate LG's strong response to the youth job project. Thank you for pledging to nurture good workers who can prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era," and added, "Let’s combine the efforts of companies and the government to increase youth jobs and invest in the future of the Republic of Korea." He also mentioned that policies for customized youth talent development and activation of youth technology startups will be announced soon.

This partnership signing is the third, following KT and Samsung. The total number of youth jobs promised by the three companies is 81,000.