[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] The voluntary high-value donation trend among CEOs of major Samsung Group affiliates continues.
According to the business community on the 13th, Jang Deokhyun, President of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, registered his name on the ‘Honor Society’ page of the Community Chest of Korea’s ‘Fruit of Love’ website, and Kim Daehwan, President of Samsung Card, was listed on the Korean Red Cross ‘Red Cross Honors Club’ roster.
The Honors Club is a group of high-value donors who have donated or pledged more than 100 million KRW to nonprofit organizations such as the Community Chest of Korea. In addition to these two, newly appointed presidents of major Samsung affiliates this year are also joining the Honors Club one after another as part of their sharing practice. It is known that some presidents, including Choi Juseon, President of Samsung Display, Oh Secheol, President of Samsung C&T, and Han Seunghwan, President of Samsung C&T, have already participated in donations.
Earlier in 2020, Park Hakgyu, Head of Management Support at Samsung Electronics (then President of DS Division Management Support), and Kyung Gyehyun, CEO of Samsung Electronics (then CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics), also joined the Fruit of Love Honor Society. At that time, all nine executives who were promoted to president or CEO, including Choi Yoonho, Head of Management Support at Samsung Electronics, Jeon Yeongmuk, President of Samsung Life Insurance, and Jang Seokhoon, President of Samsung Securities, were understood to have joined the Honors Club.
In the business community, there are expectations that Samsung’s president group practicing ‘noblesse oblige’ through voluntary donations will serve as an opportunity for the domestic donation culture, which relies on corporations, to mature. According to Statistics Korea, the donation participation rate of our citizens has steadily declined since 2011 (36.4%) to 2013 (34.6%), 2015 (29.9%), 2017 (26.7%), and 2019 (25.6%). In 2021, it dropped by 4 percentage points from two years earlier to 21.6%.
On the previous day, executives of Samsung affiliates donated 10% of the special incentive bonuses they received in December last year to the Korean Red Cross. The donation of about 10 billion KRW will be used to produce new blood donation buses to address the blood shortage issue. Choi Youngmu, Head of Samsung’s Social Contribution Division, said, "Samsung executives gathered their hearts to donate, believing that we must be with society especially in difficult times," adding, "We hope this donation will help solve the blood shortage issue caused by the COVID-19 crisis."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
