Landscape of the dock of the Doosan Vina plant at Quảng Ngãi Province which opened in 2009 (Doosan Vina)

QUẢNG NGÃI — "Thanks to Doosan Vina, (the Quang Ngai) region has witnessed noticeable economic growth, including many newly created jobs. In addition, its living condition has improved, and its residents have enjoyed an improved quality of life as well."

Nguyen Viet Thuan, 54, a resident in the northeastern coastal province in Central Vietnam of Quang Ngai, summed up the tremendous changes that have been made by the Doosan Vina plant in the region since it started operations in 2009.

Doosan Vina, one of the Doosan Group's affiliate companies, produces boilers for thermal power plants, desalination plants, modules for chemical plants and port cranes.

The area surrounding the Doosan Vina plants was originally a rural, agricultural region, where small villages were scattered across vast fields and residents earned their living through farming and fishing.

However, since the company opened its first large-scale plant in Quang Ngai Province, it has played a growth engine driving the developments of the region.

In fact, this achievement was made possible because the company has been actively engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities since its inception, with the aim of contributing to improving the quality of life of local residents.

As an example of its CSR activities, the company donated and installed a desalination plant to turn seawater into fresh water on An Binh, a remote island about 20 kilometers east of the mainland of Quang Ngai, in 2012.

As the island has not been supplied with groundwater, residents had to rely on rainwater and imported bottled water for drinking water. However, owing to Doosan Vina's assistance, the community is now being provided with up to 100 tons of clean water per day, without any concern of a drinking water shortage.

Doosan Vina invested approximately US$1.2 million (1.59 billion won) in the installation of the system and has maintained a very close relationship with the island residents for 13 years, additionally investing $90,000 for maintenance.

"Whenever our technicians have visited the island to fix the facilities due to the breakdown of the desalination equipment on the remote island, the residents there have extended hospitality to them with fresh seafood produced from the island as close neighbors," said Jeong Hyun-chul, head of the strategy team.

Children are playing at the desalination plant (Doosan Vina)

Since 2009, the company has also partnered with Chung-Ang University Hospital to provide medical volunteer services, with about 20 medical workers visiting the island every year to treat local residents and patients in need of surgery being invited to Korea for free operations.

Doosan Vina has performed operations on 85 patients with cleft palates and heart diseases here in the region, which was a fierce battleground during the Vietnam War and is known to have an exceptionally high number of cleft palate patients due to severe defoliant damage.

Furthermore, Doosan Vina has donated medical equipment worth $330,000 to 15 hospitals and public health centers in Quang Ngai Province and invited Vietnamese medical staff to receive medical training at Chung-Ang University Hospital.

A woman and her baby are waiting for their medical treatment (Doosan Vina)

Since 2015, Doosan Vina has also hosted overseas volunteer services in partnership with Chung-Ang University. For instance, the company has repaired the homes of local residents with the help of 30 Chung-Ang University students every year and performed Korean Wave cultural programs, such as K-pop cheerleading and taekwondo for children.

In particular, a number of lives were lost during fierce battles in the Vietnam War, including the Battle of Tra Bình Duong in Quang Ngai, a key area of operation for South Korean troops dispatched to the war. As a result, some old people still have negative feelings toward South Korea.

However, Doosan Vina has cleaned local memorials for the victims of the Vietnam War and paid respect to them together with Chung-Ang University students. These ongoing efforts of local volunteer activities led by Doosan Vina are helping to heal the wounds of the painful history between the two countries.

Chung-Ang Medical School student volunteers and Doosan Vina staff members are posing in front of the memorial for the victims of the Vietnam War (Doosan Vina)

Quang Ngai is also one of the provinces in Vietnam that are frequently damaged by typhoons.

According to Doosan Vina, whenever typhoons cause massive damage to residents' homes, the company has provided its own dormitories and employee apartments as temporary evacuation facilities for victims and furthermore helped with reconstruction projects.

"Most residents are well aware that Doosan Vina helps them, and they feel a familiarity with the company as with other local firms," said Le Huu Ao, 39, a local employee at Doosan Vina for 14 years.

Furthermore, he stressed that the greatest contribution made by Doosan Vina was to nurture local talents.

At its in-house training center, Doosan Vina has taught skills, such as welding, to people who previously had committed themselves to farming and fishing alone, and has so far produced more than 30,000 skilled workers.

"With such a talent pool established in the province, which had been previously short of technicians, other companies have gradually become interested in investing in Quang Ngai," the company said.

The province is now home to a steel plant owned by Hoa Phat Group, Vietnam's leading steelmaker. Thus, Doosan Vina is dubbed the "Quang Ngai's Talents Academy."

"Doosan Vina has consistently struggled to create jobs for 2,000 to 3,000 people, including more than 1,500 full-time employees and 1,000 to 1,500 contractors, who have managed to make a living from farming and fishing," Doosan Vina President Kim Hyo-tae said. "As a result, the industrial base is being built, and we are proud to be leading the economic development of the region." — YONHAP

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Doosan Vina personnel are carrying out rehabilitation support activities at a village damaged by typoon (Doosan Vina)

* Korea and Việt Nam elevated their relationship to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" in 2022. South Korea's unrivaled investment in Việt Nam, and an outstanding number of Vietnamese workers in Korea and multicultural families living in Korea are testaments to the mutual growth of both nations. In partnership with the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, South Korea's key news agency, Yonhap, aims to highlight exemplary cases of mutual growth among companies and institutions for further strengthened bilateral ties between the two nations.