Korea Development Bank Chairman Park Sang-jin (박상진) unveiled his management blueprint at his first news conference since taking office, centring on bolstering industrial competitiveness and pushing restructuring. He said finance must help upgrade industry and secure future growth engines as global supply chains are reshaped. Park highlighted a 150 trillion won national growth fund to be operated over five years and a separate 250 trillion won KDB Next Korea programme, while also outlining measures for regional financing and support for petrochemicals restructuring.

South Korea has approved the petrochemical industry’s first business restructuring project and will move to provide support worth 2.1 trillion won, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said. The plan integrates Lotte Chemical’s Daesan operations with HD Hyundai Chemical, with shareholders to inject 1.2 trillion won into a new entity. It includes shutting down 1.1 million tonnes of NCC capacity and some overlapping downstream facilities over a 3-year restructuring period.