"The Wealth in Your Mind Is Never Lost"... A Pioneer Who Built the World's Leading Smelting Company Through Diligence [Choi Changgeol Passes Away]

First-Generation Industrialist Who Entered the Smelting Business at 34
Pioneering the Smelting Industry with No Technology or Capital

He entered the business world at the age of 34 and dedicated 50 years to a single path. The late Choi Changgeol, Honorary Chairman of Korea Zinc (1941-2025), was a symbol of challenge who built the world’s leading smelting company in resource-poor South Korea. Since its founding in 1974, for half a century, he never took a detour, steadfastly believing in the fundamentals and the right way.

After completing the MBA program at Columbia University in the United States in 1973, he returned to Korea and took charge of finance and accounting at Youngpoong Mining. About eight months later, the government announced its “Heavy and Chemical Industry Promotion Plan.” At a time when the nation was trying to establish a new industrial base, he was offered the opportunity to start a business smelting zinc and lead. Although no one had ever attempted this industry before, he did not hesitate, saying, “Someone has to do it.”

The late Choi Changgeol, Honorary Chairman of Korea Zinc. Provided by Korea Zinc

He started the company with no technology, no capital, and no experience. He visited countless financial institutions and government officials to persuade them of the feasibility of the business. Ultimately, on August 1, 1974, he established Korea Zinc as an independent corporation. He then personally visited the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank, to request funding. While the IFC said 70 million dollars were needed, he insisted that 45 million dollars would suffice. He also changed the capital-to-debt ratio from the existing 60:40 to a more favorable 70:30. The IFC provided a loan of 13 million dollars and invested 4 million dollars, which was the largest investment the IFC had ever made in a private company at the time.

Honorary Chairman Choi also rejected conventional practices in construction. Instead of entrusting the project to a major construction company on a turnkey basis, he oversaw everything himself, from purchasing materials to managing the process. He believed, “Only if we build the smelter with our own hands will it truly become our technology.” Construction costs were reduced by 25 million dollars compared to the budget, and 5 million dollars remained after completion. The smelter, built on the barren fields of Onsan, came to be known as the “Miracle of Onsan.”

His management philosophy was rooted in the teachings of his father, Choi Giho, the company’s first chairman. “The wealth in your hands can be lost at any time, but the wealth in your mind is never lost.” This emphasis on the importance of learning and self-growth became his lifelong motto. He often compared companies to people: “For a company, stopping growth is the same as dying for a person. To avoid aging, you must constantly change.”

During his lifetime, Honorary Chairman Choi said, “I do not like innovation or reform. By then, it is already too late. If you make small improvements every day, you do not need major reforms.” He was a manager who believed in daily diligence rather than grand slogans. The Onsan Smelter he established surpassed overseas smelters with a century-long history and became a symbol of “Nonferrous Metal Korea.”

His challenge did not end with the success of a single company. Technological innovation that transformed the smelting industry from a “polluting industry” to an “eco-friendly industry,” securing global trust through IFC investment, and his personnel philosophy that “people are at the center” have become the foundation of management in today’s Korean manufacturing sector. A phrase left behind by Honorary Chairman Choi still remains on the walls of Korea Zinc’s facilities: “The moment you stop challenging, it disappears. Change is the way a company breathes.”