(November 12, 2008) ST. FLORIAN, Austria &#151 EV Group has appointed industry veteran, Weonsik Yang, Ph.D. as the new general manager of EV Group Korea Ltd. &#151 the company’s subsidiary in Seoul that opened earlier this year. In this role, Yang is charged with leading EVG’s strategic efforts in the growing region, which includes strengthening the company’s regional customer sales, service and support efforts, as well as expanding upon its existing R&D partnerships.

Hermann Waltl, EVG’s senior vice president of sales explained that the company is taking steps to expand on their commitment to the Korean market by providing customer support and increased R&D efforts. He says Yang’s extensive capital equipment experience &#151 more than 15 years in both strategic and technical capacities #&151 make him an asset to EVG’s Korean operations. Yang succeeds Bioh Kim, acting general manager, who will be refocusing his role as business development manager at EVG North America.

Prior to joining the company, Yang held various positions with increasing responsibilities at Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd., including roles within its fab process engineering, technology planning, manufacturing technology, and production support teams. He started his career as a team leader at Iljin, where he managed its new business development team. Yang earned his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering at Seoul National University, and obtained his master’s and doctorate degrees in the field from Michigan Technological University.

EVG celebrated the official opening of its Korean subsidiary in June 2008. The local office serves as the company’s direct-to-customer site for sales, service and support, supplanting EVG’s sales and distribution partnership model to adapt to the growing customer demands for localized efforts. The company is already working with leading semiconductor high-volume manufacturers and wafer foundries, along with various universities and research centers, including the BioIT National Foundry Center-which was established by Korea’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.