Hyundai Motor Group appointed Kim Woo-seok Kia(000270), executive vice president and head of the domestic production support division, as head of the policy development office overseeing labor strategy operations. Choi Jun-young, president and CEO of Kia, who had concurrently served as head of the policy development office, will focus on overseeing groupwide labor policy.
According to the industry on the 14th, Kia carried out executive appointments on the 15th reflecting these changes. With this reshuffle, Choi will oversee the group's overall mid- to long-term labor strategy and major issues, while Executive Vice President Kim will lead the day-to-day operations of the policy development office under a clear division of roles.
In May, Hyundai Motor Group created a new president-level head of policy development position, a rank higher than the previous vice president-level head of the policy development office, and installed Choi. The move was intended to respond to changes in the labor environment, including the implementation of the yellow envelope law, and to strengthen labor-management relations management capabilities across affiliates. Since there had been no separate appointment for the head of the policy development office afterward, Choi had been serving concurrently as head of policy development and as head of the office.
Follow-up appointments were also made in line with the new head of the policy development office. With Executive Vice President Kim's move, Min Byung-sul, head of the labor-management cooperation office (senior vice president), was appointed head of Kia's domestic production support division. Kim Seung-tae, head of the Hwaseong management support office (senior vice president), will become head of the labor-management cooperation office, and Kim Jong-sik, head of the PT comprehensive support office (senior vice president), will move to head the Hwaseong management support office.