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By Kim Hyun-bin
Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-su has set an example by pledging to donate half of his wealth to charity to help solve problems in society. His act of kindness has turned him into a role model and also casts light on large contributions made by other prominent people in the past.
Kim is worth over 10 trillion won, including 12.5 million shares he owns in Kakao valued at 5.7 trillion won. Kim said he was working on the specifics of where to donate his money, but added that he wants to help needy people in areas where Kakao has not already offered support. This marks the first time that the head of a business conglomerate donated trillions of won out of his own pocket.
"Overseas, Microsoft joint founder Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and others have donated large portions of their income and gained respect from society. Through his donation, Kim Beom-su could become a role model highly respected by the public, while spreading the culture of giving," said Oh Il-sun, director of Korea CXO Institute. "We need to see if Kim's efforts could influence other chairmen and CEOs of business conglomerates."
There have been numerous cases where industry leaders have donated large sums of money. Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo donated 850 billion won to a charitable foundation named after him. In 2007, he donated 9.23 million Hyundai Glovis shares worth 60 billion won. In 2011, he donated 500 billion won worth of Glovis shares to the foundation. Chung gave 20 percent of his shares in advertising subsidiary Innocean to the foundation in 2013.
Former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and family members donated 810 billion won to charity, with half of that money going to the Samsung Foundation.
SK Networks Chairman Chey Shin-won donated 13.2 billion won of his own money and is also a member of Community Chest of Korea's "Honor Society" composed of people who have contributed over 100 million won.
LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and family members that founded the conglomerate donated a total of 5 billion won to the LG Foundation. The money is intended to help poor families pay their public utility fees.
Daelim Industry Honorary Chairman Lee Joon-young donated 7 billion won of his own money to Seoul National University (SNU). Dongwon Group Honorary Chairman Kim Jae-chul gave 50 billion won of his own money to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to further their research in artificial intelligence (AI).
In 2016, AmorePacific Chairman Suh Kyung-bae offered 300 billion won from his own pocket to establish the Suh Kyung-bae Science Foundation. In 2014, Suh donated 500 million won to the U.N. World Food Programme to help infants and expecting mothers in North Korea, while the company matched his donation amount totaling 1 billion won. In the same year, Suh donated another 1 billion won to aid the establishment of the SNU Center for Medical Innovation. In 2015, he donated 3 billion won to the Korea Youth Foundation to aid poor children.
