'Energy, Chemical Major
in Asia-Pacific Region'

SK Corp. strengthens overseas presence in such businesses as overseas resources exploration

SK Corp. is expanding overseas presence to all parts of the Asian region, centering around China with a mid- and long-term goal of repositioning itself as a major in the Asian-Pacific region.
As SK Corp. Chairman & CEO, Chey Tai-won, has repeatedly urged his staff to "push ahead with overseas projects without fear of a failure,"SK Corp. is striving to crack the global market in search for yielding tangible fruits arising from the implementation of its active overseas projects. Chairman Choi's drive for overseas market exploration has led to exports worth more than $10 billion for the second successive year last year, accounting for half of the 2006 sales.
SK Corp. does not rest on its laurels in the overseas business category. Early this year, the company has carried out reorganization, calling for the revamping of the overseas business division.
Major features of the reorganization include the establishment of SKI (SK International),
a new corporation responsible for control over overseas business and other steps designed to create business opportunities and build up infrastructure. Recognizing the Chinese market as part of the domestic market in the long term perspective, SK Corp. has made the Chinese headquarters under the umbrella of the overseas business division a separate unit under the direct control of CEO. It is construed as a step to fortify its entry into the Chinese market by strengthening its presence in such business areas as asphalt and substances.
SK Corp. aims to successfully advance to the yubase market in Indonesia, the overseas petroleum markets in Vietnam and other countries. It plans to expand a networking by accelerating petroleum exploration, product export and branch expansion.
Amid prospects of the uncertainties of the petroleum market, SK Corp. is striving to improve management efficiency, beef up marketing activities and differentiate items from rivals, while diversifying exporting countries and exports to tide over a supply glut in the domestic market.
FOCUS ON OVERSEAS RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT. SK Corp. is repositioning itself as a global corporation by strengthening presence in such overseas businesses as overseas resources exploration. SK Corp. is adopting mid- and long-term strategies to evolve into a new major in the energy/chemical industries in the Asian-Pacific region after tiding over the limitations of non-crude oil producing countries and tide over gluts in the domestic market. To this end, SK Corp. is trying to establish itself as a major player in the petroleum/ chemical trading areas in the Asian-Pacific area, step up resources development areas, including crude oil/gas exploration, upstream parts of the energy industry, and implement tasks to establish a bridgehead in the Chinese market and advance to areas for a constant growth.
SK Corp. has strengthened presence in China after establishing the Chinese headquarters in October 2004. The company targets to raise sales in China to 5 trillion won by 2010. It wants to increase its locally incorporated operation's percentage of sales from 528 billion won or about 16 percent of 3.3 trillion in its total sales from China to more than to 50 percent.
SK Corp. plans to form "value chain"by accelerating such strategic tasks as entries into wholesaling and retailing, local production buildup according to each business. The company plans to help sale-oriented locally incorporated operations step up economic activities through complete localization of all functions ranging from financing to production and marketing, while conducting active overseas marketing activities to raise their profile. Besides, SK Corp. is reinforcing management systems and capabilities to secure and nurture excellent manpower from abroad. SK Corp. is striving to evolve into a "China Insider"which have a competitive edge to win competitions with foreign multinationals by fully meeting local needs. nw

SK Corp. sets its sights on becoming a major in the Asia-Pacific region.
SK Corp. President & CEO Shin Heon-cheol