Foreign women married with Korean husbands take time to recharge at the “Jeju Island Healing Camp.”

POSCO has been making social contributions ever since it started its operation.

The steelmaker kicked off its social contribution activity with 1988 Sister Village Project, and its mission to help society culminated last year with the declaration of a management ideal, “A Corporate Citizen Developing Together.”

Every officer above the dep’t manager level at affiliates of the POSCO Group and cooperative firms have donated 1 percent of their salaries to the POSCO 1 Percent Sharing Foundation annually since 2011.

The foundation has been supporting various charitable activities to help multicultural families and the disabled.

This year, 9.13 billion won has been collected so far, and the steelmaker and other affiliates have been donating matching funds to the foundation. Last year, the donated funds totaled 7.64 billion won, with matching funds coming to 3.2 billion won.

As of September his year, many new projects are being implemented, starting with the 1 Percent Sharing Arts School, which includes many art subjects for the next generation of artists and another program designed to provide the experimental sessions that disappeared from science classes long ago.

The foundation has been supporting the women of multicultural families by helping them visit their homeland.

The foundation also set up a healing camp on Jeju Island for women of multicultural families in the Pohang and Kwangyang areas so that they can use it for free.

For the handicapped, the foundation provides funds so specialized equipment can be provided for free, including hearing aids and one-man vehicles under the Flying Wing Project, along with remodeling of welfare facilities for the handicapped.

So far, 57,155 handicapped people at home and abroad have received support from the foundation, with financial support to be extended to the art and cultural areas next year.

POSCO has been working on a project to establish an undersea forest as a good example of environmental friendly work.

The steelmaker has also been working to clean up the ocean with its volunteer group, the Clean Ocean Service Team, which has solidified its name as a representative social service unit for the steelmaker.

Membership in the unit, which started with the Skin Scuba Club in 2009, has now grown to 130 around the steelmaker’s operational areas including Pohang, Kwangyang and Seoul.

This year, the group plans to clean the ocean around the Ullung Island off the east coast to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the group.

In 10 years, the ocean volunteer group has included over 15,000 members who contributed to some 543 events to clean the ocean. They collected some 1,652 tons of garbage in various locations around the country, including Incheon, Gangneung, Keomun, Ullung Island, and Dockdo Island.

POSCO started to diversify its social service taking advantage of the talents of its officers and staff. As of Nov. 30, the hours the spend for various social services came to 415,000 hours.

The number of talented social service members doubled last year, putting in their time in such diverse areas as photo taking, repairing farm equipment, and woodcraft, in addition to cleansing the ocean.

Members of POSCO’s clean ocean volunteering team pose with Ulleung Island lifesaving service members after they joined forces in cleaning garbage off Ulleung Island. (Photos: POSCO)