Protecting Local Industries: Ulsan Candidates Face Off on MBK Partners’ Hostile M&A Threats

Translation result.With June’s local elections approaching, the Korea Zinc labor union delivered a policy proposal on May 20 to Ulsan mayoral candidates Kim Sang-wook, Kim Du-gyeom and Kim Jong-hoon, urging them to protect local companies and workers from a hostile takeover attempt by private-equity firm MBK Partners. The union said the dispute goes beyond a shareholder fight and represents a serious threat to South Korea’s industrial security and the U.S.–South Korea economic alliance.It criticized South Korean politicians for treating the case as a routine “corporate conflict,” while governments in Japan and Australia actively protect strategic domestic firms on national-security grounds.The union demanded that candidates make Korea Zinc their top economic pledge and immediately include a concrete administrative and political roadmap in their platforms to protect the company upon taking office. Citing the Homeplus case, it also called for an explicit commitment to oppose predatory private-equity takeovers that generate job insecurity and erode regional employment.Finally, the union pressed for a cross-party “MBK prevention” strategy. It asked ruling-party candidate Kim Sang-wook to persuade the central government and the presidential office to establish institutional safeguards, and urged opposition candidates Kim Du-gyeom and Kim Jong-hoon to adopt an “Anti-MBK Prevention Act” as party policy and lead decisive legislation in the National Assembly.“Korea Zinc has posted profits for 105 consecutive quarters and now sits at the center of the Korea–U.S. strategic minerals partnership,” the union said. “Alongside 1.1 million Ulsan residents, we will vote in this election to show who will genuinely protect hometown companies and safeguard this strategic asset.”