LG Chem’s chief executive Park Jin-soo on Thursday emphasized the company’s core values of a safe corporate environment, fair trade and mutual growth with smaller players.

“In creating a safe working environment, (achieving) 99.9 percent is meaningless,” Park said at a quarterly executive meeting at the company’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. “In this case, minus one does not equal 99, but zero. That’s how important a safe environment is.”

The same priority applies to the corporate principles of fair trade and mutual growth, Park stressed.

LG Chem has been stepping up investment in creating a safer working environment for its employees by raising the number of workers handling safety issues at both its headquarters and plants.

As the nation’s leading chemical maker, the firm also has been closely following President Park Geun-hye’s initiative to build a so-called fair society and business environment by leveling the playing field for all players, including smaller vendors and suppliers.

LG Chem is currently operating a 44 billion won fund to offer low-interest funds to suppliers and is jointly developing overseas markets with them.

“It’s so easy to believe it’s unrealistic to achieve fair trade and mutual growth when the economy is getting so tough, along with competition, but this skepticism is exactly what we should be wary of,” said Park. “The values of fair trade and mutual growth are not negotiable and must be upheld at all costs.”

Park was particularly firm against price fixing, calling it a “criminal act” that cannot and should not be tolerated.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)