InterviewBaseball offers lifelong lessons for Mediheal chairman

L&P Cosmetic Chairman Kwon Oh-sub speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the company's headquarters in Seoul's Gangseo District, June 30. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

This is the first in a series of interview stories and feature stories about L&P Cosmetic, a company behind the globally popular facial sheet mask brand Mediheal, introducing philosophies, insights and future strategies of leaders of the K-beauty company. — ED

L&P Cosmetic Chairman Kwon Oh-sub owes his father his passion for baseball. The son started tagging along with his father to matches played by high schools, universities and company-sponsored clubs in the year he entered elementary school. Back then, his prime interest behind those trips was not watching baseball but street foods his father let him try.

The outings continued until his father died six years later. By then, even before the country saw the debut of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in 1982, baseball began slipping into the heart and soul of Kwon. He had no idea he was going to become the founder of L&P Cosmetic and its flagship brand Mediheal, now one of the top-selling facial mask sheet brands in the world.

Now 67, Kwon still loves the sport, decorating his office in Seoul’s southwestern Gangseo District with memorabilia including autographed bats, uniforms, plaques and photos he took with baseball stars. He has built up personal ties with players and coaches who have enjoyed long careers, including Haitai Tigers (now KIA Tigers) pitcher Cho Gye-hyun, who led the league in wins in the 1993 and 1994 seasons and currently serves as chairperson of the KBO National Team Steering Committee, and Shim Jae-hak, the current general manager of the KIA Tigers.

In July, Kwon watched this year's KBO All Star Games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul upon invitation by KBO Commissioner Heo Koo-youn. It was the last All-Star Game to be played at the stadium that is scheduled for demolition in December to be replaced with a new dome stadium.

L&P Cosmetic Chairman Kwon Oh-sub, right, watches a KBO match at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, March 22, 2025. Courtesy of L&P Cosmetic

Talking with him about how the sport has influenced his entrepreneurship over the company he founded in 2009, it becomes clear that the little museum inside his office is not simply for showing off but rather, a self-reminder to keep the sport close to his heart as he continues to lead the company.

“Baseball is just like life. I was never an athlete but always had a curiosity about managing a club. I often imagined myself doing laundry for the dirty uniforms worn by the players or cleaning their locker room. The job was known back then as sports marketer. Maybe that is why I love rooting for underdog players or clubs who fight strenuously to clinch glory," Kwon said in an interview with The Korea Times.

"Now I enjoy watching how professional clubs are managing their rosters and how their management skills directly affect their athletes' performances during regular KBO seasons. I learned a lot about entrepreneurship from this sport. I had studied geology in university and graduate school, but how can anyone learn anything about business entrepreneurship from studying geology?”

He likes comparing baseball players to the staff of L&P Cosmetic, envisioning how his more than 320 employees can generate the best possible performances for the company. To him, every employee matters, just as any KBO club would with its players.

Kwon especially values senior employees with years of professional and personal experience. He knows how a valuable player can single-handedly boost his team’s performance.

He referred to Son Seong-bin, a Lotte Giants catcher with not only an “excellent view” across the playing field but a strong shoulder to keep runners from stealing bases. Kwon emphasized the catcher's critical role because he is the only one looking in the opposite direction from his teammates. He referred to currently active Hanwha Eagles Manager Kim Kyung-moon and LG Twins Manager Youm Kyung-youp for their examplary leadership.

L&P Cosmetic Chairman Kwon Oh-sub, left, poses with KBO Commissioner Heo Koo-youn, March 15, 2024, after the company agreed to become the title sponsor of the organization under its Mediheal brand. Courtesy of L&P Cosmetic

“Many companies nowadays try to keep themselves young, encouraging aged employees to resign. That’s wrong. There are different roles expected of younger workers and older workers so they can bring harmony to the company together," he said.

"We never forced any employee to retire because of age. Last year we saw one employee who was older than me leave L&P Cosmetic. I didn’t want to lose him. So I made a seat for him at our research division and sent him there. We need advice from people like him."

Driving cooperation between younger and older workers also has lessons to learn from baseball club management, according to Kwon. He said a club should never put a seasoned player and a rookie in competition for the same position because the former will never teach his knowhow to the latter, hampering the club's improvement.

“Such management will only bruise a club. A good coach makes more experienced players help newbies by orchestrating a collaborative mood. That way, aged players share their knowhow with younger players. That’s essential,” he said.

Kwon invests in his staff by not letting go of experienced workers and accommodating in-house workers with facilities for recuperation like spaces for fitness, sauna, pilates, sleeping and screen golf. It parallels his belief that a baseball club that invests more deserves to win the league. Considering the sport’s massive popularity here under the KBO, such commitment should be invested by any club that enjoys a loyal fandom, he believes.

L&P Cosmetic has invested in nine of the KBO’s 10 clubs, putting its logo on the KIA Tigers’ uniforms, sponsoring “Mediheal Zone” seats at Busan’s Sajik Baseball Stadium, Jamsil Baseball Stadium and Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark with an annual contribution of 200 million won ($137,000), and producing merchandise for fans in collaboration with the nine clubs.

“There’s no sport like baseball where people can pay 30,000 won ($19.86), come and scream their guts out during the game's unlimited hours. Shinsegae will complete the country’s new dome stadium in Incheon’s Cheongna by 2028 which I highly anticipate,” he said, referring to the future home stadium for SSG Landers owned by Shinsegae Group.

“The KBO also attracts people rooting for clubs that mobilize people hailing from different regions of the country. Back in the day, those cheering for an away team at a stadium had to risk their lives under threat from fans of the home team. There weren't many women's bathrooms inside stadiums either. The environment gradually improved as time passed, with more amenities and refreshments for visitors. If KBO clubs had a self-supporting accounting system apart from their parent companies, their operation of home stadiums would bring in more local fans and rake in more sales.

"But geopolitical division is still visible throughout the nation. In Gangwon Province alone, people in Wonju and Chuncheon still tend to have disparate political views and support different political parties. The KBO and the sport have the power to gather and unite people with those different views.”