Hyundai Card Becomes First in Asia to Achieve UL Solutions Healthy Building Verifications for Cultural and Leisure Facilities

NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2025--

UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS), a global leader in applied safety science, today announced that four properties operated by Hyundai Card, a leading South Korean credit card company and a subsidiary of the Hyundai Motor Group, have become the first cultural and leisure buildings in Asia to receive UL Verified Healthy Building Marks, demonstrating a commitment to creating healthier and more sustainable indoor environments for employees and guests.

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The unique Hyundai Card structures, all located in Seoul, that received Healthy Building verifications from UL Solutions include the Cooking Library, which contains thousands of cookbooks, multiple restaurants and spaces for cooking classes; the Music Library, home to a vast collection of music and publications, a concert venue and music studio; Vinyl & Plastic, containing over 10,000 vinyl records from around the world; and Iron & Wood, a high-tech training facility for golf enthusiasts.

“Operating cultural and leisure facilities inside healthy buildings that prioritize the well-being of both visitors and staff helps foster a positive atmosphere while enhancing learning and enjoyment,” said Sean McCrady, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Sustainability group at UL Solutions. “Hyundai Card’s achievement as the first in Asia to earn UL Verified Healthy Building Marks for its cultural and leisure properties demonstrates a clear commitment to the health and comfort of guests and employees. We at UL Solutions value their trust in our work to help them realize this important milestone.”

UL Solutions developed the UL Verified Healthy Building Mark to meet the growing demand for healthier indoor spaces. The program helps communicate a positive message, differentiating indoor spaces with verified occupant health and well-being marketing claims. By addressing the unique challenges of indoor environments, the verification program promotes continual improvement and provides visibility into potential challenges, allowing early mitigation through practical solutions.

For Hyundai Card facilities to earn a UL Verified Healthy Building Mark, UL Solutions assessed them against rigorous evaluation, testing and analysis methodologies by industry-recognized, third-party organizations, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), World Health Organization (WHO) and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Both the Music Library and Vinyl & Plastic received the UL Verified Healthy Building Mark for Indoor Air and Water, which verifies the buildings for indoor air quality (IAQ) and water quality. To earn this achievement, the two buildings underwent an evaluation of their heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and were also assessed for waterborne pathogens and contaminants to help verify water quality.

The Cooking Library and Iron & Wood both achieved the UL Verified Healthy Building Mark for Indoor Environment. The most holistic look at a building’s indoor environment within the UL Solutions Verified Healthy Building program, the UL Verified Healthy Building Mark for Indoor Environment conveys these buildings have achieved performance in five critical areas of assessment, including air, water, hygiene, light and acoustics.

“The UL Healthy Building Verifications at four of our iconic Hyundai Card facilities underscore our commitment to health and safety and help build confidence and trust among our employees and our guests who visit these buildings for world-class music, food and leisure experiences,” said a Hyundai Card representative. “We are excited to have worked with UL Solutions to help us demonstrate how we have actively addressed potential indoor environment risks to help improve overall health.”

As part of this proactive effort, UL Solutions also conducted evaluations in three office buildings at Hyundai Card’s headquarters in Seoul and confirmed the indoor air quality of these spaces for employees.

Learn more about the UL Solutions Services for Healthy Buildings.

About UL Solutions

A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS) transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 110 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, software products, and advisory offerings that support our customers’ product innovation and business growth. The UL Mark serves as a recognized symbol of trust in our customers’ products and reflects an unwavering commitment to advancing our safety mission. We help our customers innovate, launch new products and services, navigate global markets and complex supply chains, and grow sustainably and responsibly into the future. Our science is your advantage.

UL Solutions and Hyundai Card leadership pictured here left to right: Yun Chung, Korea Regional Managing Director of UL Solutions; Sean McCrady Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Sustainability, UL Solutions; Byeongku Jeon, President, Head of Corporate Management Unit of Hyundai Card; and Myungho Kim, Senior Manager, Head of Corporate Culture, Hyundai Card.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)