POSCO has named its first female group leader, setting a new precedent at the male-dominated steelmaker.

Of POSCO’s over 16,000 employees, 3.5 percent, or 568, are female. On Monday, the company appointed general manager Liang Ho-young to lead the Stainless Hot-rolled Product Sales Group comprised of four teams and 19 individuals.

Liang, who was became POSCO’s first female team leader in 2006, will begin carrying out the duties of the group leader from June 7. 

While the company has six female general managers in addition to Liang, she is the first to hold a group leader’s post.

A group within POSCO typically consists of two to three teams, and with the exception of one, all the other female general managers are team leaders, a POSCO official said.

Liang, who speaks Chinese fluently, joined POSCO in 1993 and is now a China-specialist at the steel giant.

POSCO said that Liang is Korean but went to middle and high schools for people of Chinese decent living in Korea.

She then went on to study Chinese language and literature at university, and studied the same subject at Seoul National University’s graduate school.

She then worked as a lecturer at a Taiwanese institution.

She has progressed quickly since joining the steelmaker and was awarded a presidential commendation on the Nov. 30 Trade Day in 2005.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)