Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
Hanwha not to fire Samsung employees
By Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
Shim Kyung-seb, representative director of Hanwha Corporations’ explosive division
Hanwha Group announced Sunday that it will guarantee the job status of employees of four Samsung affiliates, which will be acquired in a mega deal.
To oversee the commitment, Hanwha, which is the nation’s tenth-largest conglomerate, has created a special task force, said a spokesman at Hanwha.
The taskforce will be comprised of two teams divided into the machinery/defense industry sector and petrochemical sector.
The former will be headed by Shim Kyung-seb, representative director of Hanwha Corporations’ explosives division, while the latter will be under the control of Kim Hee-cheul, Hanwha Q CELLS CEO.
Hanwha stressed that the launch of the task force is mostly aimed at absorbing Samsung employees with ease.
“The Samsung workers affected because of the deal won’t be fired and the acquired four affiliates will be under independent management from the rest of the Hanwha affiliates,” said the spokesman.
It also added that various retirement and welfare benefits will be kept intact.
In the machinery/defense industry sector, Hanwha said that there will be no additional sellout or scaling down of the Samsung unit, since the company regards Samsung Techwin’s current business as having great growth potential.
“We plan to expand Samsung Techwin’s business. After the merger, we will continue to expand our investment in the CCTV business where Samsung Techwin has built expertise,” said the spokesman. “Samsung Techwin’s video processing technology and Samsung Thales’ electric and software prowess will be integrated, filling the space that Hanwha has been lacking.”
Hanwha also added that the petrochemical sector is the core business of the group and the status of Samsung Total Petrochemicals and Samsung General Chemicals within the group will be elevated, not contracted.
The group last month announced that it had closed a 1.9 trillion won deal with Samsung Group to acquire the four chemical and defense units.
Under the deal, Samsung will offload its shares in defense affiliate Samsung Techwin and chemical unit Samsung General Chemicals to Hanwha. Two other affiliates, Samsung Thales and Samsung Total Petrochemicals were automatically included in the deal because they are half-owned by the companies being sold to Hanwha.
However, Samsung workers are protesting against the deal. Samsung Techwin workers formed an emergency committee earlier this month in its first labor-related gathering in the company's 37-year history.
The deal is due to be completed by the first half of 2015.