SOUTH KOREA - South Korean media have reported mass layoffs are hitting Korea Inc. companies as they are rushing to downsize their workforce to cope with falling sales and rising costs due to deteriorating economic conditions.

Among these companies is Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems, South Korean transformer manufacturer, which also announced job cuts attributing the decision to declining orders from its main client, the Korea Electric Power Corp.

The Hyundai Heavy Industries Group unit said it will receive retirement letters from all of its executives and accept 40 percent of them, reports Korea Times.

"We have made many efforts to overcome the current crisis while keeping the current workforce, but decided to launch a restructuring plan as both domestic and overseas markets continue to slow down," Hyundai Electric CEO Jung Myung-rim said.

Source: Korea Times