The 58th National Skills Competition kicks off in Korea

[Courtesy of Samsung Electronics]

The 58th National Skills Competition kicked off Saturday with an aim to create jobs for young people and contribute to the development of national industries by nurturing outstanding skilled workers.

The opening ceremony of the competition took place in South Chungcheong Province on Monday, with the attendance of Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik, Governor of South Chungcheong Province Kim Tae-heum, Education Superintendent Kim Ji-cheol of South Chungcheong Province, Human Resources Development Service of Korea Acting President Kim Young-joong, and Samsung Electronics Co. Vice President Na Ki-hong.

Jointly organized by the employment ministry, South Chungcheong Province, and Chungcheongnam-do Office of Education, this year’s competition is being held simultaneously in Cheonan, Asan, Gongju, and Boryeong for seven days until Friday.

A total of 1,691 participants are competing in 50 different job categories, including mechatronics, mechanical design and computer aided design (CAD), cloud computing, and industrial robots.

Samsung Electronics delivered 250 million won ($185,139) in sponsorship during the opening ceremony. The company also plans to provide an award to outstanding participants at the closing ceremony on Friday.

Samsung Electronics has been sponsoring the National Skills Competition since 2007. The support provided by Samsung Electronics is considered favorable to the participating students as many of them can be hired by Samsung Electronics and other Samsung affiliates.

As of the end of last year, Samsung Electronics and its affiliates, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Samsung SDI Co., and Samsung Display Co. hired a total of 1,486 competitors who took part in the competition.

Last month, Samsung Electronics also presented 720 million won in training support funds to national team competitors who will participate in the 47th WorldSkills Competition in Lyon, France, next year.

Samsung Electronics’ support for technical talent follows a strong commitment from its Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee.

In 2006, Lee proposed the idea of sponsoring the National Skills Competition after coming across from his visit to a Japanese company that many of the skilled workers in the company’s core processes were winners of the International Skills Olympics or Japan’s domestic skills competitions.

In 2006, Samsung signed a Skills Promotion Agreement with the employment ministry, and established a dedicated organization in 2007 to expand its sponsorship.

During his tenure as an executive vice president in 2009, Lee visited Calgary, Canada, where the 40th WorldSkills Competition was held.