Goryeo Zinc Retired Executives' Meeting: "MBK, Abandon Your Dark Ambitions"

Statement Expresses Support for Current Management

The group of retired executives from Korea Zinc, known as 'Gosuhwe,' expressed their support for the current management, including Chairman Choi Yoon-beom, who is engaged in a management rights dispute with Youngpoong and MBK Partners (hereafter the MBK alliance).

Choi Yoon-beom, Chairman of Korea Zinc. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

On the 6th, Gosuhwe issued a statement saying, "As members who have shared hardships and joys with current and former employees for over 50 years and helped grow Korea Zinc into the world's leading non-ferrous metals company, we actively support the current management for a new future." They added, "We hope MBK Partners will abandon their dark ambitions toward our Korea Zinc and focus on restoring the competitiveness of numerous acquired companies struggling due to management failures, including Homeplus, which recently entered a shocking corporate rehabilitation process, and console the wounded employees." Regarding Youngpoong, they urged, "We call on them to adopt a basic and common-sense approach focused on improving their core business, which is on a path of deterioration."

This is the first time Gosuhwe has publicly stated its position on the management rights dispute between the MBK alliance and the current management. Explaining the reason for issuing the statement, Gosuhwe said, "We can no longer watch MBK Partners, who have already failed in the smelting business with Youngpoong, use every possible means to swallow Korea Zinc with their dark ambitions, so we are raising our voices directly." They further explained, "Witnessing the moral hazard displayed in the recent Homeplus incident, where damages are shifted onto workers, partners, consumers, and even creditors, strengthened our resolve that Korea Zinc must be protected."

Earlier, Homeplus, a large supermarket chain with MBK Partners as a major shareholder, filed for corporate rehabilitation proceedings at the Seoul Bankruptcy Court on the morning of the 4th. After a representative hearing, the court decided to commence rehabilitation proceedings within 11 hours of the application. Following Homeplus's entry into rehabilitation, responsibility theories have spread inside and outside the market, claiming that MBK Partners caused financial difficulties by reckless leveraged management based on acquisition loans amounting to 2.7 trillion won.

Gosuhwe stated, "Watching MBK's behavior, which seeks to reap the fruits of being the world's number one company without the process and effort, it is impossible to hide our anger," and criticized, "Over the past six months, what MBK has shown alongside Youngpoong day and night has been nothing but criticism, threats, division, and lawsuits against the members responsible for Korea Zinc's present and future." They questioned, "How can those who are solely obsessed with how to sell Korea Zinc at a high price in five or ten years and make a profit lead Korea Zinc's journey for the next 50 or 100 years?"