POSCO

POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's sixth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, it was the world's largest steel manufacturing company by market value. Also, in 2012, it was named as the world's 146th-largest corporation by the Fortune Global 500. POSCO currently operates two integrated steel mills in South Korea, in Pohang and Gwangyang. POSCO previously operated a joint venture with U.S. Steel, USS-POSCO Industries, in Pittsburg, California, United States, but U.S. Steel acquired full ownership of the facility in February 2020. In the 1960s, South Korean administration concluded that self-sufficiency in steel and the construction of an integrated steelworks were essential to economic development. Since South Korea had not possessed a modern steel plant prior to 1968, many foreign and domestic businesses were skeptical of Republic of Korea Government's decision to invest so heavily in developing its own industry. The Korean government created Pohang Iron and Steel Company, Ltd (POSCO) in 1968 and appointed as president of the mill a competent retired army general and friend of President Park Chung Hee, Park Tae-joon, a man with a track record of having turned around the government-owned Korea Tungsten Company. Construction of the Pohang plant began on April 1, 1970, and was dedicated on July 3, 1973, with an initial annual capacity of 1.03 million metric tons. Japan provided the money for the construction of the initial plant, following an agreement made at the Third South Korea-Japan Ministerial Meeting in 1969. Financing included US$119million in government grants and loans, US$54 million in credit from the Export-Import Bank of Japan, and technical assistance from Nippon Steel and other corporations. This cooperation was one consequence of the normalization of relations with Japan in 1965 and reflected the view of the government of Japan as noted in the Nixon-Sato communique of November 21, 1969, that "the national security of the Republic of Korea is essential to the security of Japan.