New KT&G president seeks ethical expansion

KT&G’s new president, Baek Bok-in, vowed during his inauguration yesterday to strengthen transparency and ethical management at South Korea’s biggest tobacco manufacturer, the former South Korean tobacco and ginseng monopoly, according to a story in The Korea Herald.

He urged KT&G to leave behind the wrongs of the past.

Baek, 50, said he would make the “three Cs” – clean, co-operative and creative –his top management agenda.

Appointed for a three-year term, Baek, KT&G’s former vice president and chief strategy officer, has replaced Min Young-jin who resigned following graft allegations.

“Under the firm belief that transparency and ethical management is essential for the company’s survival and sustainable growth, KT&G will strengthen the authority and professionalism of the ethical management office,” Baek said in his inauguration speech.

Meanwhile, Baek said that in order to strengthen the company’s global competitiveness its various units would be given more operational independence, along with the responsibilities and rewards that such independence entailed.

KT&G is due to announce a major organizational reshuffle today.

Specifically in respect of the company’s overseas plans, Baek said he would push for a major expansion into emerging markets so as to increase the company’s exports of cigarettes and insam, or Korean ginseng.