CEO's Column "21st Century Must Complete Both Growth and Maturity"...Korea Gas Corporation President Hong Ui-rak Raises Issue of 'Qualitative Growth'

A timely theme has emerged calling for harmony with maturity beyond the growth-oriented paradigm of the 20th century. Facing an era of technological revolution and sustainability, qualitative advancement and social responsibility—going beyond simple quantitative expansion—are emerging as the core elements of future competitiveness.

Hong Ui-rak, president of Korea Gas Corporation, recently expressed his views on the direction of social development through his personal social media account, stating, "If the 20th century was an era of growth, the 21st century is an era that must complete both growth and maturity together."

Paradigm shift from "How much shall we have?" to "How shall we live?"

President Hong diagnosed that while the core challenge of the industrialization era was 'growth' to escape poverty, modern society faces fundamental questions of "How can we live a better life?" and "What development should we pursue?"

He defined growth as 'a matter of quantity and expansion of possibilities' and maturity as 'a matter of quality and assigning responsibility to possibilities.' Maturity, he explained, is not abandoning growth but rather an process of elevating the level of growth.

In the era of technological revolution, must be cautious of growth without maturity

Accordingly, he emphasized that economic growth must be accompanied by fairness, technological advancement by human dignity, and social affluence by responsibility toward future generations.

Specifically regarding the current acceleration of technological revolution including AI, he pointed out that "technological advancement does not directly mean social progress or human maturity." The analysis is that future competitiveness will be determined by fairness in distributing achievements over simple growth scale, ethical use of technology, and securing sustainability of communities.

This message from the head of an energy public enterprise can be interpreted as a suggestion that Korean society, including Korea Gas Corporation, must re-establish the value standards it should pursue amid rapidly changing technological and economic environments.