Ulsan (South Korea), October 18: South Korean shipbuilding, oil refining and machinery conglomerate HD Hyundai said Tuesday its shipbuilding units have obtained a global certification for their efforts to promote an anti-bribery corporate culture.
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE), HD Hyundai's shipbuilding subholding company, and its three subsidiaries have secured the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification for their anti-bribery management system from Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance.
KSOE and the three units -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries -- have met all the requirements after undergoing a two-month assessment of 45 items in seven categories, including organizational situation and leadership, HD Hyundai said.
The certification ISO 37001 is meant to instill an anti-bribery culture within an organization and carry out proper controls, which will in turn boost the chance of detecting and reducing bribery.
HD Hyundai said the ISO certification will help the conglomerate win the confidence of customers and institutional investors and push for more substantial ESG management.
ESG is short for environmental, social and governance criteria for evaluating companies on how far advanced they are in the sectors of environmental protection, social justice and business ethics.
"HD Hyundai will expand an anti-bribery management system to all subsidiaries to further develop a transparent and fair corporate culture and lay the ground for sustainable ESG management together with diverse interested parties," a group official said.
As part of efforts to eliminate corruption, HD Hyundai set up a code of ethics for purchasing in 1994, its principles for complying anti-bribery laws in 2014 and in-house rules for human rights management in 2020.
The conglomerate has also been running a compliance program to monitor law violations and provide staff with regular anti-bribery education.
Source: Yonhap