Janssen Korea CEO to lead group of multinational drug firms

Kim Oak-yeon

By Jhoo Dong-chan

The Korea Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Association (KRPIA) has named Janssen Korea CEO Kim Oak-yeon as its president.

Kim has promised to develop the health care and medical services industry in Korea and boost the country’s pharmaceutical status in the global market.

Kim, 48, is the 12th president of the association and will serve a two-year term.

She was head of Janssen Malaysia from 2007 to 2010 and the GM business bureau in China from 2010 to 2012. She came to Korea in 2012 as the first woman CEO of Janssen Korea, one of the multinational pharmaceutical firms here.

She has served as the company’s regional head of Northeast Asian operations, including Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, at the same time.

In 2013, she was elected the first woman board member of directors in the KRPIA and became vice president in January 2013.

Janssen Korea faced temporary production suspension under Kim’s management in 2013 due to excessive levels of acetaminophen in its Children’s Tylenol product.