SEOUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's third-biggest conglomerate SK Group on Tuesday disclosed its first results of the monetized social value, which the group's three major affiliates created last year, as part of efforts to contribute to the society and help resolve social issues.

The social value, which the top oil refiner SK Innovation, the largest mobile operator SK Telecom and memory chip giant SK Hynix created in 2018, amounted to 12.3 trillion won (10.3 billion U.S. dollars) when expressed in the form of currency, the group said in a statement.

The monetized social values from SK Innovation, SK Telecom and SK Hynix came in at 1.2 trillion won (1 billion U.S. dollars), 1.6 trillion won (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) and 9.5 trillion won (8 billion U.S. dollars) each.

SK's social value was measured in three areas: an indirect business contribution to the economy such as employment, dividend and tax payments; a business contribution to the society that includes the sale of environmentally-friendly products, the improved working environment, corporate governance, among others; a social contribution such as donations and volunteer activities.

The business contribution to the society by SK Innovation and SK Hynix posted negative readings last year because of the emission of polluted materials, such as greenhouse gases, while producing refined oil and semiconductors.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the measuring of social value showed the group's willingness to set a target and meet it by improving the shortfalls as what can be measured can be managed.

A SK Group official said that based on what was measured last year, each affiliate will set a target to improve, noting each unit will make efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and expand environmentally-friendly businesses.

Lee Hyung-hee, chief of the social value committee at SUPEX Council, SK's top decision-making body, told a press briefing that the social value measurement was aimed to create higher social value as well as economic value.

The group planned to unveil the monetized social value of 13 other affiliates in the near future.

Despite the efforts to measure social value and share the created value with the society, SK's metric system had yet to be complete as it failed to gauge the consumer damages, the corporate governance and the violation of law.

SK said the social value measurement would become a cornerstone to turn the group into a sustainable one, though it can undergo a lot of trial and error while completing the system. Enditem

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