Siemens Korea's new head pledges double-digit growth

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- The new head of Siemens Korea, the South Korean unit of Germany-based Siemens AG, pledged Thursday that the company will strive to maintain double-digit growth in its main ultrasound and building automation business areas for the next five years. "The target means the company must manage to pull off at least 13 percent growth every year," Kim Jong-gab, the chairman of the Germany-based electrical engineering giant told reporters at his inaugural press conference. Siemens Korea is a provider of health care equipments and energy solutions, and currently accounts for 60 percent of the local ultrasound market. Kim said he plans to pursue a strong localization strategy in order to meet such goals and to seek tie-ups with South Korean companies. "We are currently looking into expanding collaboration with local firms to advance into overseas markets," the executive said. Kim said Siemens realizes the need to water down the company's impression of being too German or European, adding that it needs to be reborn as a local company. "That seems to be the likely reason why they gave me the job, and I have the role of promoting the change and boosting the company's image," he said. Kim had worked as the president of Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest memory chip maker, and is a former vice commerce minister. As part of its localization efforts, Siemens also hired experienced local businessmen, like Kim, as top executives in Japan and China. Siemens has recently been involved in legal disputes with South Korean conglomerates Samsung LED Co. and LG Electronics Co. on violation issues of light-emitting diode technology.