The next president of the Korea Food Industry Association, a key face in the domestic food industry, is expected to be Jin-sun Park, CEO of Sempio Foods. Ultimately, Jong-hyun Hwang, CEO of SPC Samlip, who was competing for the association's presidency, has decided to withdraw his candidacy.
According to the food industry on the 30th, it was reported that CEO Hwang conveyed his intention not to run for the president of the Korea Food Industry Association the previous day. The association previously aimed to elect a new president to succeed Heo-yul Lee, whose term ended in March. However, the competition between CEO Park and CEO Hwang remained stagnant, resulting in the failure to select a next president.
Until now, the association has appointed its president through a board recommendation process without any formal election. However, with two candidates vying for the new president position, the competition could not narrow down to a single candidate, leaving the president position unfilled.
In this situation, CEO Hwang ultimately decided not to run as a candidate for president, leading to CEO Park rising as the candidate for the next president. It appears that CEO Hwang judged that it would be difficult to take on the presidency due to the growing negative public sentiment regarding the death of a worker at the SPC Samlip Siheung factory.
The association will hold an extraordinary general meeting on the 4th of next month to vote on amendments to the bylaws regarding the selection of the new president. Following this, it plans to hold another general meeting as early as the end of June, after passing the review of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, to elect the next president.