Dear honorable fellow KR colleagues,

I wish all of you and your families good health and happiness in the New Year. 

I also would like to offer my New Year's greetings to our related industries including shipping, shipbuilding and equipment manufacturers, as well as officials from all related organizations, including the Korean National Assembly and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. I look forward to your continued support and encouragement in the new year.


Dear KR family!

2022 was a difficult year due to the economic slowdown, unstable international situation, and insecure global supply chain.

Nevertheless, we were able to grow unwaveringly and make several milestone achievements last year including exceeding class tonnage of 80 million GT earlier than expected and winning new vessels from many international shipping companies, which showed the growing customer trust in KR’s technical expertise and quality service. 

In addition, with the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Corporate Tax Act last year, KR has been confirmed as subject to corporate tax exemption so now the amount saved can be invested for R&D projects and social contribution activities. 

We also reached the highest income in KR's history last year which will be the basement for further growth.

All of these achievements are thanks to the executives and employees who silently fulfilled their duties in their respective positions and I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work of all the KR members who are doing their best at KR offices around the world even at this time.


Beloved KR family,

In 2023, we set a management goal of 85 million GT of registered tons and an annual revenue of 145 billion KRW for the continuous growth of KR, and to achieve this target, I plan to implement following key strategies this year.

First, we will advance eco-friendly and digital technologies.

In order to survive in the fierce international competition between IACS classifications, which is currently at its peak, we have to develop eco-friendly and digital technologies and gain competitive advantage quickly.

Since eco-friendly technologies are directly related to the future growth of our customers, we will strengthen our comprehensive solution service in response to environmental regulations and quickly secure technologies with high market growth potential so that we can provide the technical services that our customers need in a timely manner.

As digital technologies are rapidly changing around the world, we will further accelerate the development of core technologies such as autonomous ship technology, CBM technology for engines and generators, and big data and AI technologies.

Secondly, we will continue to improve the quality of our survey service.

As I always emphasize, our basic principle is to keep our registered ships safe by maintaining the highest survey quality. 

This year, we will make continuous efforts to improve survey quality by systematically monitoring the safety of registered vessels and strengthening our prevention and response measures against port state control detentions. 

In addition, we will expand the number of LNG professionals and continue to strengthen our technological prowess in order to thoroughly carry out the increasing number of LNG carrier survey.

Thirdly, we will strengthen sales capacity.

Increasing our class tonnage is necessary for our stable development. Over the past three years, it has been successfully increased by 12 million GT due to the efforts of our KR colleagues; of which 6.5 million GT comes from international shipping companies.

This year, we will also strive to achieve the target of 85 million GT with a sales strategy to strengthen bespoke customer services and expand overseas sales & marketing activities in Greece, Germany, Singapore, China, and Japan.

In addition, considering that Korean shipyards no longer build bulk carriers or car carriers, we have to step up our efforts to target the Chinese market by reinforcing our technical manpower within China.

Lastly, we will enhance competitiveness in new business areas.

In order for our classification society to achieve sustainable development and increase corporate value, it is necessary to secure a growth engine in new business areas.

Fortunately, efforts that have been made since last year to prepare legal grounds for wind power-related engineering work and new-built naval vessel survey are gradually bearing fruit, so we will continue to foster our business competitiveness in these areas.


Dear KR family,

We are an organization that can only exist with the trust of our customers.

Therefore, let's put customer value first and provide the best service to customers so that we can become “a class society that customers choose to join”.

If we always think from our customer’s point of view, we can provide better service that our customer really need and make our customers definitely come to KR on their own.

Finally, allow me to express my sincere congratulations to our colleagues who have received well-deserved awards today, and I once again extend my best wishes to all of you and hope that you and your family have peaceful and happy New Year.

Thank you very much.

LEE Hyungchul
Chairman & CEO