Life Summary
Cho Dong-kil is chairman of Hansol Group.

He was born on November 30, 1955, in Seoul as the third son of Lee In-hee, former adviser to Hansol Group and the eldest daughter of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul.

He graduated from St. Paul’s School in the United States and the Department of Economics at Yonsei University.

After working at Samsung C&T, he joined Hansol Paper, then known as Jeonju Paper, and developed an early interest in the paper business.

Together with adviser Lee In-hee, he led restructuring efforts to reorganize the group’s business portfolio around the paper industry before becoming chairman of Hansol Group in 2002.

He strengthened the group’s core paper businesses, including Hansol Paper, Hansol Artone Paper and Hansol Papertech, raising Hansol Group’s revenue from around KRW 2 trillion (US$1.4 billion) to around KRW 5 trillion (US$3.6 billion).

He is known for having a strong practical sense and is credited with stabilizing the group by choosing sound management and practical gains over reckless expansion.

As the group approaches the era of fourth-generation management, he faces challenges including weak control over the group, difficulties securing ownership stakes, a lack of growth engines and a decline in the group’s overall standing.

The original Korean text contains an apparent spacing typo in “4 세,” which was interpreted as “4세,” meaning “fourth-generation.”

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