Hankook Tire Deletes 34 Years of Nanum Foundation Activities

Missing from Company ESG Report
Hankook Tire "Deleted Due to No Activity or Support Details"

Cho Hyun-beom, President of Hankook Tire

Hankook Tire & Technology has removed the social contribution foundation established by its founder from the group’s key ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) activity records. The reason given was that it was difficult to include it as a performance metric since there was no company-level support. However, it is widely interpreted that the conflict between Chairman Cho Hyun-bum and his elder sister, Cho Hee-kyung, the foundation’s chairperson, played a significant role.

According to industry sources on the 2nd, Hankook Tire recently deleted all references to the Hankook Tire Sharing Foundation from the social contribution section of its '2023-24 ESG Report.' This contrasts with previous reports, which consistently highlighted the foundation’s activities until last year.

The Hankook Tire Sharing Foundation was established in 1990 by Cho Yang-rae, the founder and honorary chairman of Hankook & Company Group (formerly Hankook Tire), with the purpose of giving back the wealth he accumulated to society. For 34 years, the foundation has carried out medical support for low-income groups, housing support for vulnerable populations, and scholarship programs for university students. Cho Hee-kyung, the eldest daughter of honorary chairman Cho Yang-rae, served as the foundation’s chairperson, and Hankook Tire annually supported the foundation with approximately 2 to 3 billion KRW in project funds.

However, when Chairman Cho Hyun-bum of Hankook Tire & Technology became embroiled in a management dispute with his older brother Cho Hyun-sik, sister Cho Hee-kyung (chairperson of the Sharing Foundation), and Cho Hee-won, he stopped supporting the foundation from 2022. Subsequently, in April, Hankook & Company and its business entity Hankook Tire & Technology sent a certified letter through Kim & Chang law firm to the foundation, requesting that the use of the ‘Hankook Tire’ name be discontinued within three weeks. They notified that since there had been no joint social contribution activities or sponsorships since 2022 and no plans to do so in the future, continued use of the Hankook Tire name could be considered unauthorized trademark infringement. Furthermore, on the 3rd of last month, they filed a lawsuit at the Seoul Central District Court seeking to prohibit the use of the name. Although Chairman Cho Hyun-bum expressed willingness to reconcile with his siblings after winning the management dispute last year, conflicts appear to be ongoing.

Hankook Tire stated, “The report this time does not include any support provided last year, so it was excluded from the performance metrics,” and added, “The deletion of the content from the ESG report was not due to the lawsuit over the use of the name.” However, despite not providing any project funds to the foundation in 2022, Hankook Tire included the foundation’s social contribution activities in the 2022-23 ESG report. This has led to interpretations that the removal of related content in this year’s report is ultimately due to the lawsuit.