Park Tae-joon is the first chairman of POSCO.
Park was appointed secretary to the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction chairman under former President Park Chung-hee in 1961. In 1964, he was appointed president of tungsten exporter Korea Tungsten Co. He was recognized for his management skills, turning the chronically loss-making company profitable within a year. The former president also entrusted Park with building an integrated steel plant.
After achieving profitability within six months of starting operations, Park built a second steel plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, which produced 21 million tons in 1992. Park served as CEO for 26 of POSCO’s 40 years of history. In 1987, he became the first active steelworker to receive the Bessemer Gold Medal, known as the Nobel Prize of Steel, and in 1992, he was awarded the Willy Korf Prize, the world’s leading steel award.
However, Park resigned from POSCO in 1993 under pressure from South Korea’s second democratically elected president, Kim Young-sam. He entered politics briefly but was accused of embezzlement by members of the Kim administration and fled to Japan. He was later cleared of the allegations and briefly served as prime minister for South Korea’s next president, Kim Dae-jung, in 2000.
Park was reappointed honorary chairman of Pohang Steel in 2001, and in 2008, he was elected chairman of the board of the POSCO Cheongam Foundation, the company’s social contribution foundation. Park passed away in December 2011 at the age of 84 due to a worsening lung disease.
The company was later privatized, but Park did not receive stock options. For the past decade, he led a charitable foundation from a small office near Seoul’s city hall. He told reporters, “I dedicate my short life to my eternal country,” describing his life’s motto.
Personal history:
▲Sep. 1927 = Born in Yangsanseo, Gyeongnam, Korea
▲1945 = Enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Waseda University, Japan (dropped out)
▲1948 = Graduated from the 6th class of the Korean National Defense and Security Academy (Army)
▲1961 = Secretary to the Chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction under Park Chung-hee
▲1963 = Promoted to Major General of the Army
▲1964 = Appointed President of Daehan Joong-seok
▲1968 = Started construction of integrated steel plant
▲1987 = Awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal
▲Jan.1990 = Appointed leader of the Democratic Party of Korea
▲1992 = Awarded the Wilikoff Prize
▲Mar. 1993 = He was stripped of his honorary chairmanship of Pohang Steel. Indicted on bribery charges
▲Nov. 1997 = Appointed president of the LDP
▲Jan. 2000 = Appointed Prime Minister
▲May 2000 = Resigned as prime minister
▲2001 = Appointed honorary chairman of Pohang Steel Works
▲2008 = Appointed chairman of the POSCO Cheongam Foundation
▲Dec. 2011 = Passed away at the age of 84
