Why LS Group Training Center is Raising 'Tojongkkulbeol' Native Honeybees

Group Training Center LS Miraewon Collaborates with Anseong Agricultural Technology Center to Conduct 'Native Honeybee Breeding Project'
LS Miraewon Provides Beekeeping Site for 400,000 Native Honeybees, Harvesting 60kg of Native Honey Annually

A panoramic view of the native honeybee beekeeping facility installed in the outdoor garden of LS Miraewon, the LS Group training center in Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] LS Group announced on the 15th that LS Miraewon, the group training center located in Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, will participate in a native honeybee breeding project to protect the global ecological environment in collaboration with the Anseong Agricultural Technology Center.

LS Miraewon recently decided to join this project to raise awareness of the importance of saving honeybees, whose populations are rapidly declining worldwide due to global warming and environmental pollution, and to support local native honeybee beekeeping farms.

LS is providing idle land within LS Miraewon as a beekeeping site for native honeybees, and the project operation will be conducted by Hanbong Research Association, a local beekeeping expert group in Anseong-si, as part of efforts to revitalize local farms.

Honeybees are insects that pollinate by moving between flowers of plants, and if they become extinct, about 70% of the top 100 major crops cultivated by humans could disappear. The United Nations (UN) designated May 20th as "World Bee Day" annually since 2017, highlighting the importance of honeybees for the global ecological environment, and their significance has recently been reemphasized.

In response, German automaker Porsche built a beekeeping facility at its Leipzig plant that can house about 3 million bees, and British automobile companies Rolls-Royce and Bentley have started raising about 250,000 to 300,000 bees at their headquarters and factory sites. Domestically, cosmetics company Amorepacific has also created a bee garden and is conducting urban beekeeping, with many companies at home and abroad joining this honeybee preservation movement.

In particular, native honeybees are facing a severe extinction crisis, as about 90% of the native bee population died due to a fatal virus called "Nangchungbongabupaebyeong" that spread in 2010, causing severe damage to local beekeeping farms.

At the LS Miraewon beekeeping site, 26 beehives capable of housing about 400,000 native honeybees will be installed, and approximately 60kg of native honey expected to be harvested around November will be delivered to welfare facilities and low-income groups in Anseong-si through LS's annual sharing event held at the end of each year.

An LS official said, "This activity is part of LS's win-win management that considers the environment and society," adding, "We hope to create a healthy ecological environment and will strive to fulfill our corporate social responsibility by contributing to the development of the local beekeeping industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.