"We can't go any further. We'll unload everything in Pakistan, so handle it yourself."
In early March this year, GS Global (001250) faced an emergency. A vessel carrying 86,000 tons of Chinese steel bound for a Saudi Arabian customer suddenly notified the company that it would unload midway. The Strait of Hormuz had become a danger zone following U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February. The ship stopped off the coast of Pakistan, declaring it could go no further.
It was a dire situation in which both the shipper and the recipient faced inevitable losses. Yet the shipping company could not be forced to push through the middle of a war zone to deliver the cargo. Kim Sung-won, CEO of GS Global, made one proposal to the shipper: "Let's change course and break through by land."
GS Global promised to guarantee the full cost to the shipping company. The vessel then bypassed Hormuz and rerouted to the Saudi port of Yanbu on the opposite side of Yemen. From there, it was overland. The steel was unloaded at Yanbu and trucked 1,000 kilometers inland. GS Global promised the Chinese steel producer, "We will deliver the goods to the customer no matter what," and told the Saudi side, "Even if it's late, we will deliver." All 86,000 tons of steel brokered by GS Global arrived safely at their destination.
"A very expensive bill will come, of course. But isn't that what a trading company exists for? I think this incident showed the true worth of GS Global as a general trading company."
Beyond Simple Trading—Responsible for the Entire Logistics Process
Kim recently shared these harrowing episodes in an interview with The Seoul Economic Daily. The tales he recounted were more than mere accounts of handling logistics mishaps. They were effectively a manifesto showing why general trading companies must exist and how he intends to lead the company.
Kim was promoted from Vice President and CEO of GS E&R to President and CEO of GS Global through the GS Group's personnel reshuffle late last year. At the company's first shareholders' meeting following his appointment in March, he purchased 40,000 treasury shares on the market. His reason: "I have conviction that the company's value is far higher than the market's assessment (stock price), and I want to prove that through performance together with our employees and reward our shareholders." Kim stated flatly that buying treasury shares was merely an expression of this commitment, adding, "Delivering value to those who trusted and invested in the company is a CEO's natural duty and responsibility."
Looking solely at the previous year's earnings, he candidly admitted that the "responsibility" he emphasized had fallen short. Revenue rose to 4.1093 trillion won ($3 billion) from the prior year, but operating profit fell 32.8% to 52.3 billion won ($38 million). The core steel trading business took a direct hit from U.S. high tariffs, while subsidiary GS Entec incurred one-time losses as it transitioned into an offshore wind structures specialist. Kim bowed his head, saying, "Reasons aside, I have nothing to say about the decline in operating profit other than that I am sorry."
His blueprint for earnings improvement centers on two main axes. One is upgrading the existing steel trading business to higher value-added products. Kim cited oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and electrical steel as key items. With the Donald Trump administration's energy investment drive fueling a surge in demand for oil and gas field equipment in the U.S., demand for related steel pipes is exploding, while demand for electrical steel is growing structurally on the back of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and electric vehicle expansion.
Taking this into account, GS Global plans to open a new branch in Houston in July and expand its push into the Middle East reconstruction market. The decision reflects the judgment that the existing U.S. branch in Los Angeles (LA) alone is insufficient to penetrate Houston, where the energy industry is concentrated.
The other axis is an early recovery of subsidiary GS Entec. Kim explained that the transition to an offshore wind structures company is currently about 76% complete. He expects the entire facility setup to be finished by August this year, allowing the subsidiary to enter a phase of producing test structures in-house. GS Global has set a revenue target of 4.6 trillion won ($3.4 billion) for this year.
Experience Inside and Outside Policy—Finding Business Clues in Print Newspapers
Though the title "trading man" now feels familiar, he started out as a civil servant designing policy. Kim majored in law at Seoul National University, passed the senior civil service examination, and worked at the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy—predecessors of today's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. He later served at POSCO and Doosan Heavy Industries before being recruited as head of the Energy Resources Business Division at GS Energy in 2021.
Now leading GS Global after serving as CEO of GS E&R, his public service experience has become a major asset and weapon. It is an "integrated perspective" that only someone who has experienced both sides of policy can possess. Kim said, "One of the strengths of a Ministry of Commerce official is experiencing a wide range of fields," adding, "Given that no industry today operates stand-alone, that experience is a great help." He continued with a smile, "Even with steel products, customers need plastics and non-ferrous metals to deliver to end consumers. I learned in public service that you have to move beyond the mindset of just doing the steel business well and look at customers' broader needs in an integrated way."
There is one habit he emphasizes to employees for diverse experience and integrated thinking: reading print newspapers. He reads economic newspapers every morning, underlining with a ballpoint pen. It is not simply about gathering information but "training to read context," he explained. "In print newspapers, macro trends and the movements of micro players unfold at a glance. You have to read between the lines to grasp the full context."
He also shared an experience from his days at Doosan Heavy Industries, when he found a clue in a newspaper that a company in an industry completely unrelated to power plants planned to build one—and turned it into an order. "That company was normally outside our sales radar, but I traced it back from a few lines of a newspaper article, found the decision-maker, and eventually won the order," he said. "Where else can you find such a good source of information in the world?"
Throughout the interview, Kim referred to himself as a "merchant." He also emphasizes to employees, "We are in the people business." He said, "A trading company's role is to deliver what customers need at the right time, at the best price, and safely," and asked rhetorically, "If a customer doesn't like me, would they buy from me?" In the end, the real business (work) only begins after "I," the person selling the goods, have first been sold to the customer. Kim's belief is that without trust, one may sell once but cannot sell a second or third time.
I Am a Merchant—Even If War Breaks Out, I Will Stick to the 'Basics'
Asked about the company's future, he again put people before numbers. "Rather than a company expressed in numbers like trillions in revenue or certain profit figures, the general trading company I aspire to is one where employees are happy and, based on that happiness, earn the trust of customers," he said. "When that happens, money naturally follows."
Not being swayed by immediate numbers is no easy feat for a manager. Kim has his own training method to tame impatience: "slow running," a 40-minute jog at 6 kilometers per hour every morning at a schoolyard near his home. It is a pace at which he gets passed even by neighborhood mothers, but what matters to him is not speed. The essence lies in doing it every day, consistently, without giving up.
Though he emphasizes "light luggage"—insisting his travel bag always fits as carry-on—he never skips his morning run, always packing running shoes. "It's the same with managing a company," Kim stressed. "Even if war breaks out, it's important to stick to my basics without getting tired or getting carried away by the ups and downs." On that day in March when the ship stopped off the coast of Pakistan, he did just that.
He is… △Born 1970 △Law, Seoul National University △1992, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Resources, Senior Civil Service
