Up to two-fifths of the South Korean companies doing business in China were found to be engaging in socially responsible projects such as building schools and offering health care services for underprivileged people, according to a survey on Friday.

In the survey taken on a total of 127 South Korean firms operating in China, up to 40.2 percent of the respondents said they have established an intracompany unit for heading up socially responsible investment. The figure reflected a significant increase from the 15.9 percent of the firms that gave such responses two years ago, said the Korea Chamber of Commerce in China, which conducted the survey.

This marks the second time that the Korea Chamber of Commerce in China released the results on such studies of social responsibility by South Korean companies in China.

(hnpark@heraldcorp.com)