About 130 family members and employees attend first anniversary ceremony

Choi led company's founding in 1974, built global smelting giant through technology investment

Bust and memorial stone unveiled; staff vow to continue his 'people and trust' philosophy

Korea Zinc holds a memorial ceremony at its headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the death of late Honorary Chairman Choi Chang-geol. [Korea Zinc]
Korea Zinc holds a memorial ceremony at its headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the death of late Honorary Chairman Choi Chang-geol. [Korea Zinc]

Korea Zinc held a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the death of late Honorary Chairman Choi Chang-geol, pledging to carry on his management philosophy of "people and trust." The event also looked back on Choi's role in founding and building the company after it entered the non-ferrous metals smelting industry in the 1970s, when the sector had almost no domestic base in South Korea.

The ceremony was held Tuesday morning at Korea Zinc's headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul. About 130 people attended, including Chairman Choi Yun-beom and other family members, Vice Chairman Lee Je-jung, executives and employees from affiliates, and personal acquaintances of the late chairman.

The program opened with a moment of silence, followed by a biographical introduction, a memorial video, eulogies, remarks from a family representative and a flower offering. Korea Zinc President Baek Sun-heum introduced the life of the late chairman, while President and CEO Park Ki-deok delivered a eulogy on behalf of employees. Chairman Choi Yun-beom expressed gratitude to attendees on behalf of the family.

"We were reminded again that the management philosophy and entrepreneurial spirit the honorary chairman established are the firm roots sustaining Korea Zinc today," Park said. "His life was a history of pioneering and creation that led South Korea's non-ferrous metals industry — which was little more than a wasteland — onto a path of great advancement."

Choi Chang-geol was born in Hwanghae Province in 1941, the second son of Korea Zinc founder Choi Ki-ho. He graduated from Gyeonggi High School and Seoul National University with a degree in economics, then earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. After working in the United States, he returned to South Korea in 1973 and played a central role in establishing Korea Zinc the following August.

During the early construction of the smelter, he personally led fundraising efforts — securing domestic financing from the National Investment Fund and Korea Development Bank while also attracting overseas capital from the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank affiliate.

The IFC had estimated the project would require $70 million, but Choi persuaded the lender it could be built for under $50 million. Opting for direct procurement and construction management rather than a turnkey contract, he ultimately completed the smelter for about $45 million.

From 1980 to 1992, he served as president and then vice chairman, driving the establishment of a technology research institute and the expansion of production facilities. He also broadened the group's business by founding Youngpoong Precision — now KZ Precision — in 1983 and Seorin Trading — now KZ Trading — in 1984.

After becoming chairman in 1992, he pursued the expansion of domestic zinc and lead smelting capacity while establishing SMC, a zinc smelter in Australia, to build an overseas business base. He also invested in environmental technology, commercializing a process that converts residue from zinc smelting into clean slag for use as a cement raw material.

The values Choi emphasized in running the organization were people and trust. He was known to say that Korea Zinc resembled not a pile of boulders stacked together, but a structure built by compacting grains of soil one by one — stressing the role of each individual employee and the strength of the organization as a whole.

"Throughout that process, what the honorary chairman valued most as the core of management was 'people' and 'trust,'" Park said. "The exemplary labor-management harmony Korea Zinc has achieved today, and the competitive strength no one can match, stem from precisely that management philosophy of valuing talent and integrity that he practiced — and that philosophy continues to be the force that keeps Korea Zinc standing firm even amid the serious external threats and challenges we face today."

Choi also devoted attention to social contribution. He stressed the importance of education, saying, "Wealth held in your hands can be lost at any time, but wealth held in your mind can never be taken away." Beginning with support for the Myeongjin Children's Home in 1981, he backed child welfare and scholarship programs, efforts recognized in 2013 when he received the Camellia Medal of the National Order of Merit at the Korea Sharing Grand Award.

Employees said they would carry forward Choi's spirit of serving the nation through business by strengthening competitiveness in critical minerals and new ventures. The plan calls for raising the competitiveness of the existing smelting business while expanding into new areas including renewable energy, secondary battery materials and resource recycling.

"Korea Zinc will stay one step ahead of the times, pioneering new technologies and businesses, and advance as a company the world needs — supplying the materials and energy the world requires in the safest, most eco-friendly and most efficient way possible," employees said in a statement. "We believe the honorary chairman will continue to watch over us and encourage us as we do so."

Attendees unveiled a bust of the late chairman at the headquarters. Family members and senior executives then traveled to Maseok Moran Park cemetery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, to pay their respects at his grave and hold a separate unveiling ceremony for a memorial stone. The memorial space at headquarters remained open throughout the day for employees to visit at their own discretion.

Meanwhile, Korea Zinc has been accelerating its push into critical minerals. Chairman Choi Yun-beom announced in a shareholder letter late last month that the company plans to expand its product lineup from about 20 types to about 30 over the next five years. The company is also pursuing "Project Crucible," an integrated smelting complex in Tennessee that would produce critical minerals and other materials, as a key growth initiative.


kwater@heraldcorp.com