| Park Han-woo | Lee Sam-woong |
The walkout cost the company about 350 billion won in lost output. The union staged partial strikes for a total of 48 hours from Aug. 22 to Oct. 2 over a wage dispute.
His resignation was immediately accepted.
"He wanted to take responsibility for failing to end the labor dispute early. With his resignation, he also intended to issue a warning to the union for its wrong ritual of annual strikes," a Kia Motors spokesman said.
Vice President and CFO Park Han-woo will succeed Lee.
Kia's operating profit dropped 18.6 percent to 566 billion won and net profit also plunged 27.2 percent to 657.4 billion won in the third quarter.