By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
SK Group, the country's third-largest conglomerate, is reaching out a helping hand to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake that killed more than 60,000 people.
The company, which operates many of its key divisions including telecom and energy in China, said it donated 10 million yuan (about 1.5 billion won) to the Red Cross Society of China three days after the deadly quake ripped through central China on May 12. SK China additionally handed over 200,000 yuan (about 30 million won) to help fund recovery efforts.
Last Wednesday, Chairman Chey Tae-won, together with SK Telecom CEO and President Kim Shin-bae, SK Networks CEO Jung Man-won and other executives, visited the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to pay their condolences to victims.
Chey, according to SK, wrote the words, ``Terribly sad and in grief,'' in the guest book, with hopes that the damaged regions would recover as soon as possible.
Also last week, SK said it had changed the color of the Chinese version of its corporate Web site to black and white in an expression of sympathy. Company officials said all color photographs, images and writing had been replaced with more appropriate content and these would remain during this time of mourning.
The online site reads, ``Let's team up with each other to overcome this natural disaster.''
The magnitude-8 earthquake, the worst to hit China in 30 years, left over 5.47 million people homeless.