Invest KOREA

Korea's major conglomerates plan to increase their investments this year to create more jobs in a domestic economy struggling to escape a prolonged slump.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea's 30 largest conglomerates will invest a combined KRW 149 trillion this year, up 7 percent from a year earlier. They will mostly invest in the industries of automobile, semiconductor, display, telecommunications, petrochemical, and steel. Main tasks will include producing hybrid and electric cars, developing next-generation memory, expanding system semiconductor facilities, investing in OLED TV panel facilities, and improving the quality of LTE networks.

The top 30 conglomerates plan to hire 128,000 people, up 1.5 percent from last year. Of them, 47,000 people will be high school graduates, a 9.4 percent increase from a year earlier.

The ministry will also endeavor to establish a foundation for economic recovery and a creative economy.

Source: Yonhap News (Apr. 3, 2013)

** This article was translated from the Korean.