The head of SK Telecom’s union on Monday attempted suicide in what appeared to be a protest of the company’s decision to spin off its platform business.

The union leader, identified only by his surname Kim, was found in the office of SK Telecom’s headquarters in downtown Seoul at around 4:00 p.m. after attempting to hang himself.

Kim was rushed to a nearby hospital to receive treatment. His condition was not critical, according to SK Telecom officials.

Kim had earlier passed around emails to fellow unionists apologizing for not having been able to protect them despite his previous promises to pull out all stops to (prevent the spin-off).

The suicide attempt came after the country’s top mobile carrier announced it would split its platform division in late May to create a new platform subsidiary that will be in charge of non-mobile businesses.

The new platform subsidiary will be headed by the firm’s platform business president Seo Jin-woo and it is expected to be responsible for new projects such as open platform businesses.

Employees who had said they would stick with SK Telecom and protest the spin-off were reportedly under threat of being sent to provincial posts.

By Robert Lee  (robert@heraldcorp.com)