Following its annual year-end executive reshuffle, the Korean trading firm announced that Lee Young-joo, head of its human resources department, has been appointed as one of its five new directors.
Born in 1976, Lee joined the company in 2000 when it was an LG Group subsidiary. In 2021, LG Group hived off some affiliates for LX Group Chairman Koo Bon-joon, a grandson of the late LG Group founder Koo In-hwoi and an uncle of LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
Lee was also the first woman to lead a Korean trading firm’s overseas branch in 2015, when she was appointed the chief representative of LG International’s Almaty office in Kazakhstan, based on her studies at Saint Petersburg State University in Russia.
“Considering uncertainties surrounding domestic and international economic environments, we appointed leaders with extensive experience and expertise”, an LX International official said.
In 2022, LX International also appointed Sohn’s Market Makers CEO Sohn Lan as its first female outside director in an apparent attempt to cope with a partial amendment to the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act in 2020.
The law stipulates that a listed company with total assets of at least 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) must ensure that its board is not composed solely of men or women, with compliance required within two years of the amendment’s effective date. However, at the time of her appointment, LX International credited Sohn's selection to her expertise in the North American market.