Figures close to SK Group join presidential transition team

This combined photo shows members of the presidential transition committee's second economy division who are connected to SK Group. From left are KAIST College of Business professor Lee Chang-yang, Dongduk Women's University professor Wang Yun-jong and former SK Telecom Vice President Ryu Woong-hwan. Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

SK Group is drawing attention after some of its former employees rose to prominent roles in the second economy division of Yoon Suk-yeol's presidential transition committee in charge of industry and trade policies.

Given that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is also leading the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) representing businesses, the group is expected to exercise strong influence over the incoming Yoon administration's industrial policies.

According to the transition committee, Thursday, KAIST College of Business professor Lee Chang-yang, Dongduk Women's University professor Wang Yun-jong, former SK Telecom Vice President Ryu Woong-hwan and ATEAM Ventures CEO Ko San were appointed as the four members of the second economy division.

Aside from Ko, the three other members are all affiliated with SK Group.

Lee, who will lead the division, served as a nonexecutive director of SK hynix between 2012 and 2018, based on his career as a government official dealing with industrial policies.

Wang worked as SK China's senior vice president, and while he was leading SK Research Institute in China and Korea he wrote reports on the global economy for the SK Group chairman. He is known as an expert in international finance and trade policies, as he worked for the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy as the head of its Center for Regional Economic Studies.

Ryu, who had worked for Intel, Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, joined SK Telecom in 2018 and led the telecommunication company's open collaboration group, social value innovation center and ESG innovation group. He is said to have continued offering advice to SK Group's management, even after resigning last year.

“They will come up with measures to create jobs, abolish regulations, foster the digital economy and convert into the management considering environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors,” Yoon's spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said after announcing their appointments.

Yoon Suk-yeol, left, shakes hands with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters in Seoul in this December 2021 file photo. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keun

SK Group has been recognized for its ESG management, as it became the nation's first conglomerate to develop a tool to measure corporate social value. Its chairman also announced late last year that the group will reduce its annual carbon emissions by 200 million tons by 2030.

In addition, Chey met with Yoon last December at the KCCI's conference. At that time, the then-presidential candidate reportedly listened carefully to the opinions of the businesspeople, reacting positively to their requests.

Their relationship, however, was awkward in 2012, when Yoon was leading prosecutors who investigated Chey on allegations of embezzlement, which led to him ultimately being sentenced to a four-year prison term.