The outgoing chairman of South Korean steelmaker POSCO on Thursday denied allegations that political pressure was behind his decision to resign.
Kwon Oh-joon told reporters that "there was no such thing" when asked whether he had been under pressure to quit.
The comments came a day after Kwon said he wanted to lay the groundwork for growth at POSCO for the next 50 years.
The world's fifth-biggest steelmaker by output recently marked the 50th anniversary of its foundation.
 |
Kwon Oh-joon (Yonhap) |
For the whole of 2017, net profit soared to 2.974 trillion won ($2.78 billion) from 1.048 trillion won a year earlier. Operating profit jumped 63 percent on-year to 4.622 trillion won last year from 2.844 trillion won a year ago.
POSCO was a state-run company before being privatized in 2000.
Currently, the South Korean government has no stake in POSCO, though POSCO's chairman has been replaced whenever a new administration has taken office.
In 2014, then-POSCO chairman Chung Joon-yang was replaced by Kwon Oh-joon about 16 months before Chung's term was set to expire.
Chung's predecessor, Lee Ku-taek, resigned in 2009, one year after the inauguration of President Lee Myung-bak. (Yonhap)
