"Tears Really Fall" Tree Seedling Donation to Turkey in the Name of 'Kim Yeon-kyung'

On the 4th, at the Ariake Arena in Japan, South Korea's women's volleyball team defeated Turkey in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, advancing to the semifinals. Players including Kim Yeon-koung (left) are cheering.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] After the women's volleyball quarterfinal match between Korea and Turkey at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, fans of volleyball player Kim Yeon-koung have been performing a good deed by donating saplings to Turkey, which recently suffered damage from large-scale wildfires, in Kim Yeon-koung's name.

On the 6th, posts certifying donations of saplings under the hashtags 'PrayForTurkey' and in the names of 'Kim Yeon-koung' or 'Team Korea' have been continuously appearing on social media platforms such as Twitter.

Turkey has been severely affected by large-scale wildfires that have continued for eight days since the 28th of last month. At least eight people have died, and about 16,000 have been evacuated due to these fires.

Fans of volleyball player Kim Yeon-kyung are running a campaign to donate saplings to Turkey, which suffered great damage from wildfires, in the name of 'Kim Yeon-kyung' and 'Team Korea.'
Photo by Twitter Capture

The Turkish national team advanced to the semifinals and expressed a desire to bring hope to their people suffering from the wildfires, but on the 4th, they lost to Korea in a close match with a set score of 3-2. Some Turkish players were seen sitting on the court crying after the match. Turkish national team coach Giovanni Guidetti said in an interview with Turkish media, "I wanted to bring joy to the people facing this great disaster, but I am sorry that I could not."

As Turkey's difficult situation became known, Korean volleyball fans offered comfort with hashtags such as #PrayForTurkey. Soon, a netizen posted, "The Turkish players said that since there are large wildfires in Turkey, they wanted to give strength to their people through this match," which was retweeted over 25,000 times, sparking a trend among netizens to "donate saplings to Turkey."

As a result, posts certifying donations of saplings to Turkey under the names 'Kim Yeon-koung' and 'Team Korea' have appeared on social media, and Turkish netizens responded with messages of gratitude, saying, "This truly brings tears to our eyes. We sincerely thank you."