Korea Marine Environment Corp. President Kang Yong-seok (from right), KT&G Senior Executive Vice President Lee Sang-hak and GoodWave CEO Park Da-ham pose for a photo on Wednesday. [KT&G]
Korea Marine Environment Corp. President Kang Yong-seok (from right), KT&G Senior Executive Vice President Lee Sang-hak and GoodWave CEO Park Da-ham pose for a photo on Wednesday. [KT&G]

KT&G has signed an MOU with the Korea Marine Environment Corp. and civic group GoodWave to pursue marine environment protection activities.

The signing ceremony was held Wednesday at KT&G's Seoul office, with KT&G Senior Executive Vice President Lee Sang-hak, Korea Marine Environment Corp. President Kang Yong-seok and GoodWave CEO Park Da-ham in attendance. The three organizations plan to conduct regular beach cleanups in coordination with local groups and volunteers, and will jointly run campaigns to prevent marine waste and raise public awareness.

The partnership will also include an "adopted beach" program — a citizen-participation initiative that originated in Texas in 1986, in which participants take stewardship of a designated stretch of coastline and tend to it as they would a pet. KT&G has designated nine beaches across the country as adopted beaches, including Oido Beach in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, and will carry out trash collection and landscape improvement at each site.

"We will continue to fulfill our corporate social responsibility, including marine environment protection, through collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders," Lee said.

Meanwhile, KT&G collected about 47,589 kilograms of marine waste — including foam buoys and discarded fishing gear — through 206 beach cleanup activities last year. A total of 2,326 people participated, including local activists and company employees.


andy@heraldcorp.com