Park Jun-kyung, president of Kumho Petrochemical / Courtesy of Kumho Petrochemical

By Baek Byung-yeul

Park Jun-kyung, the eldest son of Kumho Petrochemical Chairman Park Chan-koo, was promoted to president from senior executive vice president, as part of the company's management succession to the third generation of its owner family, according to the synthetic rubber maker, Friday.

With the promotion, the younger Park became president a year and a half after being promoted to senior executive vice president. He is a grandson of the petrochemical company's founder Park In-chon.

Born in 1978, the new president joined Kumho Petrochemical in 2010 and is one of its major shareholders, with a 7.45 percent stake. His father holds a 6.96 percent stake.

Along with his promotion, his sister, Park Joo-hyung, was also promoted to senior executive vice president. She holds a 1.01 percent stake in the company.

Though Kumho Petrochemical is undergoing management succession from Chairman Park to his two children, it remains to be seen how the siblings will lead the company's business diversification.

The chemical company posted an operating profit of 230.5 billion won ($180 million) in the third quarter, down 63.1 percent from the same period in 2021. The company's performance was greatly buoyed last year thanks to soaring demand for NB latex, a synthetic latex used to make latex gloves.

The siblings also need to defend their management control against their cousin Park Chul-wan, a former senior vice president of the company, who is also the largest shareholder with an 8.87 percent stake.

In 2021, Park Chul-wan challenged his uncle over control of the board of directors as the largest shareholder of the company, but couldn't make that happen after facing opposition in a shareholders' meeting.

Park Chul-wan is a son of former Kumho Group Chairman Park Jeong-koo, the deceased older brother of the current Kumho Petrochemical chairman. He has continuously raised shareholder proposals in order to win back management rights from his uncle.