Steel Korea 2016 provides the steel industry and relevant academic and research institutes with the setting to evaluate the current situation of the Korean steel industry. Steel in Korea is having to face a rapidly changing global environment, and must explore ways to enable the continuous growth of the industry by making new breakthroughs.

It was the second annual meeting of the event, attended by 300 people, including Chairman Ohjoon Kwon, Vice-Chairman of Hyundai Steel Yoocheol Woo, Chairman of the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials Jongsoo Lee, and Chairman of the Korea Steel Scrap Industry Association Youngdong Park.

In his opening speech, Chairman Ohjoon Kwon remarked, “Recently, our steel industry has been undergoing some challenging times amid the trade protectionism occurring around the world, and also due to domestic demand beginning to wane. In order to overcome the current crisis and move forward, the industry, academia, research institutes, and the government should come together to improve responsiveness and drive change.”

Kwon said that the industry should make bold investments into new technologies and products in order to supply better quality products at lower prices, and companies should secure a solid management foundation through strong corporate restructuring that would remain unaffected in any occasion.

On August 24, the Korea Iron & Steel Association held Steel Korea 2016 at the POSCO Center to seek a breakthrough for the steel industry. Chairman Ohjoon Kwon emphasized that, in order to overcome the crisis in the steel industry, the industry, academia, research institutes and the government should come together to improve responsiveness.

He also added, “The private and public sectors should work together to survive in the global steel trade war. We have to improve our responsiveness to changes in trade policies by closely monitoring the trade regulations of each country and strengthening the communication channels with local steel industry and trade authorities.”

The participants agreed that strong domestic demand is instrumental to the continuous growth of the steel industry, and pledged to build up a strong partnership with relevant industries, such as automotive and construction, as well as to block imports and distribution of unfairly traded products.

The event also included a wide range of presentations concerning the future of steel and construction, including the flow of demand for structural steel in each industry; current status of product development; current status and future prospects of steel using technologies in different industries, such as automotive, shipbuilding, home appliances and stainless steel; seismic design in steel structures; trends of Iran’s construction market; and future steel housing.

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 Pictured here: Sergio and his co-workers doing community service with the Korea Steel Association

About Sergio’s Path to Korea

Colombia is actually home for Sergio. So how did he end up joining a Korean steelmaker company? Growing up Sergio was full of curiosity about other countries. He decided he wanted to learn Chinese and at the time the Beijing Olympics was taking place so travelling to China was the perfect choice to not only learn Chinese culture and language but also to experience the Olympics. While studying in Beijing, Sergio made good Korean friends that naturally led him to visit Korea.

 Pictured here: Sergio during his stay in Beijing

Raising Awareness about Korea and POSCO

Sergio came to Korea in 2011 and participated in POSCO’s global internship program. Prior to joining POSCO, Sergio says that he honestly did not know much about Korean companies. Now, not only can he speak confidently about POSCO and other Korean companies, he also can speak four languages! He is truly a globally talented person who can speak English, Spanish, Chinese and Korea. Going forward, it is his dream to use his multicultural background to help POSCO penetrate into Central and South America. POSCO sees Brazil as a key investment market so Sergio hopes developing business in Brazil will be a successful starting point for further business development in Central and South America.

Pictured here: Sergio hanging out with colleagues

Some Words of Advice on Working Overseas

Living and working in a foreign county is not always easy. In Sergio’s first few months living in Korea he had some amusing episodes because of his level of Korean. In one instance, instead of telling his boss ‘I will bring the newspaper’ he accidently spoke in a commanding tone saying ‘Bring the newspaper’.

Pictured here: Night out with fellow co-workers

Overcoming cultural differences and adjusting to work life was possible with the help of colleagues. In terms of work, Sergio spends most of his time using English and Spanish which are his first languages. However, Sergio was not afraid to go outside his comfort zone and he made the effort to socialize with coworkers outside the office. He is currently a part of the POSCO Steeler team which is POSCO’s corporate soccer team and it has helped him communicate in Korean with colleagues more easily.

Here’s some more advice for being recruited as top global talent for POSCO.

Pictured here: Sergio and his POSCO Steelers teammates