Korea Tungsten Company

Korea Tungsten Co., Ltd.
대한중석
Company typeState enterprise (~1994)
Private (1994~)
IndustryMetalworking
Founded1916
FounderGovernment of South Korea
HeadquartersSeoul, Taegu

Korea Tungsten Company (KTC, Korean대한중석; Hanja大韓重石; RRdaehan jungseok was a major South Korean manufacturer of tungsten cutting tools, tungsten powder, and related metal-cutting products. It was the 28th-largest chaebol by asset[1] with subsidiaries such as Korea Tungsten Construction and Korea Sintered Metal. In 1952, KTC appointed its first President, Ahn Taek Jun. With the national government, KTC also established POSCO, which is now the world's second largest steelmaker by output. In 1998, Keo-Pyung, then KTC's proprietor, defaulted on its loans and was declared bankrupt by its main creditor, CHB Bank. On May 12, 1998, Keo-Pyung announced that it would shed 14 of its 19 companies, Korea Tungsten among them. ISCAR, the predecessor and now the largest arm of IMC, bought KTC after months of negotiations, and renamed it TaeguTec. Today, TaeguTec group has become a global tooling and solutions giant with 25 overseas subsidiaries and over 130 distributors in 50 countries throughout the world.