GM, LG to win Van Fleet Award for battery partnership

All News 11:04 August 12, 2021

SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- General Motors Co. and South Korean company LG Corp. will receive the 2021 Van Fleet Award for their contribution to strengthening ties between South Korea and the United States, a non-profit business organization said Thursday.

The Korea Society, a nonprofit organization established to promote Korea-U.S. relations, has annually given the Van Fleet Award since 1992 to individuals and organizations that helped strengthen the bilateral ties.

The organization said it will deliver the award to the companies in New York on Oct. 19.

LG Corp. is the holding company of South Korea's battery-to-electronics conglomerate LG Group which has LG Chem Ltd. and LG Energy Solution Ltd. as affiliates under its wing.

In April, GM and LG Energy Solution, South Korea's top electric battery maker, invested US$2.3 billion to set up Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture to manufacture battery cells for electric vehicles.

Ultium Cells will build a battery cell plant on land leased from GM, and the plant is scheduled to open in late 2023. Once operational, the facility will supply battery cells to GM's Spring Hill assembly plant, according to the Detroit carmaker.

Late Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee received the award in 2006, while the late President Kim Dae-jung earned the same award the following year, and the late Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho won it last year.

In May, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the country's leading business lobby group, became the first Korean organization to earn the award. KCCI Chairman Park Yong-maan garnered the award for the second time as he was awarded the same prize in 2014.