Struggling Pantech names new president

Pantech promoted Vice President Lee Joon-woo as its new head yesterday, a day after founder Park Byeong-yeop left the top post of the struggling mobile phone manufacturer.

Lee, who was made a co-CEO with Park in March, was given the title of president as the company is facing an uphill battle to shore up growing losses from ever-increasing competition in the smartphone market.

Pantech is expected to announce a new smartphone by the end of the year, with some market observers speculating it could be next month.

Park, who had held onto the title of vice chairman, tendered his resignation Tuesday after the company got a performance report that was worse than last year.

In the second quarter, the company’s operating loss stood at 49.5 billion won ($46 million), compared to a 17.9 billion won loss recorded in the third quarter of 2012, which was its first operating loss in five years.

Lee has built his career as a tech expert at Pantech.

He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electronic engineering from Seoul National University and Postech, respectively. Lee joined the company in 2001 as head of the mobile phone maker’s research department. Before joining Pantech, he worked as a researcher at Hyundai Electronics, which today is SK Hynix.

BY MOON GWANG-LIP [joe@joongang.co.kr]