Hanwha Group

Hanwha Group is a large business conglomerate (chaebol) in South Korea. Founded in 1952 as Korea Explosives Co., the group has grown into a large multi-profile business conglomerate, with diversified holdings stretching from explosivestheir original businessto energy, materials, aerospace, mechatronics, finance, retail, and lifestyle services. In 1992, the company adopted its abbreviation as its new name: "Hanwha". History 1952–1999 Kim Chong-hee founded Korea Explosives Co. in October 1952. Prior to founding the company, Kim worked as a gunpowder engineer for the 'Chosun Explosives Factory', a Japanese company. Later, he won the bid for the company and its Incheon factory and started the company there. From 1952–1963, the Korea Explosives Co. produced industrial explosives domestically, which was needed for construction and engineering of infrastructure. In the same time period, the Korea Explosives Co. started producing nitroglycerin, which gave it a monopoly in the field of explosives and gunpowder. In 1959, the Hanwha group started producing domestic dynamite.