KOREA WHO

Lee Ho-jin is a senior advisor at Taekwang Industrial.

He is the former chairman of Taekwang Group and currently provides guidance on the company’s future strategic direction, although many expect that he will soon return to frontline management.

He was born on December 8, 1962, in Busan as the youngest son among three sons and three daughters of Lee Im-yong, founder of Taekwang Industrial.

He graduated from Daewon High School and Seoul National University with a degree in economics. He completed an MBA program at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management in the United States and finished the doctoral coursework in economics at New York University.

He joined Heungkuk Life Insurance as a director and, after his father passed away in 1997, became CEO of Taekwang Industrial and Daehan Synthetic Fiber at the age of 35.

After his maternal uncle Lee Ki-hwa stepped down as chairman and his eldest brother Lee Sik-jin, vice chairman, passed away due to illness, he inherited control of Taekwang Group in 2004 and became chairman.

By actively pursuing mergers and acquisitions, he expanded Taekwang Group’s financial business into areas such as non-life insurance and securities, and in the media sector, he grew the company into the No. 1 cable TV operator. He was recognized as a second-generation owner with exceptional managerial ability who expanded the group’s overall scale.

He was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust and served his full term.

He remains entangled in multiple “legal risks” and is widely viewed as a figure who significantly damaged the public image not only of Taekwang Group but also of the broader business community due to major social controversies.

#TaekwangGroup #TaekwangIndustrial #LeeHojin #KoreaBusiness #CorporateHistory #Chaebol #ManagementSuccession #MergersAndAcquisitions #LegalRisks #KoreanEconomy