SK cosmetics firm boss quits over video praising Japan

YOON Dong-han, president of cosmetics and health care goods manufacturer Kolmar Korea Co Ltd, apologised and resigned on Sunday after showing a controversial video praising Japan to employees last week.

During a press conference at Kolmar Korea’s headquarters in Seoul, Yoon said he deeply regretted his behaviour and would take responsibility by resigning from the top post.

“I apologise to our clients for causing harm due to my wrong behaviour, and also to customers who trusted Kolmar Korea products,” he said.

After Yoon’s abrupt resignation, it is speculated that his son, Kolmar Korea CEO Yoon Sang-hyun, may succeed him in the top management post. The younger Yoon currently holds an 18.67 per cent stake in Kolmar Korea Holdings, a 0.08 per cent stake in Kolmar Korea and a 8.54 per cent stake in Kolmar Pharma Co Ltd.

According to news reports, Yoon played a far-right YouTube video that criticised President Moon Jae-in in connection with Japan’s recent decision to remove South Korea from a list of trusted trade partners and praised Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in front of some 700 employees during a monthly meeting on Wednesday.

A day later, anonymous posts surfaced online accusing Yoon of making offensive comments about the company’s factor y workers. Yoon reportedly said he would never show such a v ideo to factor y workers because he “believed in t he intelligence of white-collar employees.”

Following such claims, the company released an apology and said the video was used to illustrate a bad example of reacting emotionally to Japan’s apparent economic retaliation over the Korean Supreme Court’s decision on wartime forced labour.

Despite the gesture, shares of Kospilisted Kolmar Korea and its holding company, Kolmar Korea Holdings, hit a year-low last week. Kolmar Korea’s stock price closed at 47,750 won ($39.40) on Friday, down 2,450 won or 4.88 per cent from the previous day.

Kolmar Korea, founded in 1990 through a deal with Japan’s Nihon Kolmar Co Ltd, is currently a supplier to more than 500 cosmetics brands, including Amorepacific, Missha and Estee Lauder.

Last year the company acquired CJ HealthCare Corp, South Korea’s 10th largest pharmaceutical firm, for approximately 1.3 trillion won as part of its midterm goal to become one of the country’s top five biotech companies by 2022.