San-eun Attempts to Approve Southeast Region Organizational Restructuring Plan at Board Meeting on 29th
[Asia Economy Reporters Bu Aeri and Yoo Jehoon] Korea Development Bank (KDB) held a board meeting and is accelerating efforts to relocate to Busan, a campaign promise of President Yoon Suk-yeol, including personnel and organizational restructuring related to the southeastern region. The labor union warned that such attempts are a 'trick' ahead of the revision of the KDB Act and announced plans to take physical and legal actions against the board.
The Korea Federation of Trade Unions Financial Industry Union Korea Development Bank Branch held a press conference at 8:30 a.m. on the 28th at KDB headquarters in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, stating, "If Chairman Kang Seok-hoon ignores warnings and pushes forward with the board meeting, we will not only use physical force to block it but also file complaints and lawsuits against both inside and outside directors for breach of trust and abuse of authority, and launch a resignation campaign to crush the illegal attempt to relocate the headquarters."
Hundreds of KDB employees and senior union leaders, including Park Hong-bae, chairman of the Financial Union, attended the press conference held in the rain. Also present were Seo Young-kyo, Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party of Korea, lawmakers Kim Min-seok and Lee Su-jin, and Jeong Jin-sul, floor leader of the Seoul Metropolitan Council.
According to the union, KDB plans to hold a board meeting on the 29th to approve the 'Southeastern Region Business Organization Restructuring Plan.' The restructuring plan reportedly includes changing KDB's small and medium-sized enterprise financial division to the 'Regional Growth Division' and assigning related personnel to Busan. The number of employees will also increase by 54, totaling 207.
Additionally, the plan includes establishing a 'Southeastern Investment Finance Center' under the Regional Growth Division to handle investment finance tasks in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam regions. The Marine Industry Finance Office, currently located in the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC), will be expanded from one office to two. KDB plans to start practical work as soon as the organizational restructuring plan is approved and prepare office space and company housing so that related personnel can work in Busan by late January next year.
At the press conference, criticism arose that Chairman Kang is recklessly pushing the relocation to realize President Yoon's campaign promise amid a freezing domestic financial market due to incidents such as the Legoland scandal and the non-exercise of the call option on Heungkuk Life's perpetual bonds. Chairman Park said, "After the end of this year, the financial market situation is expected to worsen, with forecasts of a shock similar to the 2008 global financial crisis," adding, "In such a crisis, the place that should play the biggest role is a policy bank like KDB, so why rush to Busan and tell them what to do?"
Lawmaker Lee Su-jin also said, "Balanced national development is the responsibility of the state and local governments, so it is questionable why this responsibility is being shifted to KDB workers, pushing toward an economic crisis," adding, "With the economic crisis possibility increasing due to the Legoland incident triggered by Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-tae, KDB's role is significant, and the public aware of this opposes the Busan relocation."
The KDB union called the organizational restructuring a 'trick' that bypasses the revision of Article 4 of the KDB Act, which stipulates that KDB's headquarters be located in Seoul, and hinted at legal and physical countermeasures. Union Chairman Jo Yoon-seung referred to the recent sudden resignation of an outside director seven months before the end of their term, saying, "Creating or relocating one or two departments is not a matter for board approval, but the chairman pushing this as an agenda item for the board meeting and the outside director resigning is quite a spectacle," adding, "This means Chairman Kang also feels that this restructuring is being pushed recklessly before the KDB Act revision, and outside directors do not want to share responsibility with the chairman for what could be breach of trust or abuse of authority."
Chairman Jo continued, "We will not overlook tomorrow's board resolution as something 'good is good' as before," emphasizing, "We will definitely hold each director legally accountable. We expect directors to make the right decision based on conscience and justice." Lawmaker Lee also stated, "What Chairman Kang and the directors are trying to do (force the Busan relocation) is breach of trust and dereliction of duty," and added, "We will hold them accountable in the National Assembly."
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