Devoted to Advancing Women's Rights
Donated Over 100 Billion Won to Yongmun Academy
Dedicated to Nurturing Talent Through Scholarship Programs
Hyundai Group announced on December 25 that Moonhee Kim, Honorary Director of Yongmun Academy and mother of Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, passed away from old age at around 11 p.m. on December 24. She was 97 years old.
Kim was born in 1928 in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, as the daughter of the late Kim Yong-ju, founder of Jeonnam Textile.
She graduated from the Department of English Literature at Ewha Womans University in 1949, completed a graduate program in international politics at Ewha Womans University in 1959, and in 1966 acquired the Kyeomsan Foundation and Gangmun High School, later renaming them Yongmun Academy and Yongmun High School in 1970.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she served as president of the Business and Professional Women Korea (BPW Korea) and the Korean League of Women Voters, as well as president of the Korea Girl Scouts Association and the Korea Youth Organization Council. She devoted herself to youth education and the advancement of women's rights.
She served as principal of Yongmun Academy in 1995 and as chairperson of the board from 1998 to 2017. According to Hyundai Group, she donated more than 100 billion won of her personal wealth to establish Yongmun Academy as a prestigious private school.
In 2005, she founded the Imdang Scholarship and Cultural Foundation, named after her pen name, and served as its first chairperson for 12 years, dedicating herself to nurturing talent through scholarship programs. In 2012, she donated 100 million won to Korea University to support research on student counseling and character education.
The foundation is currently led by her granddaughter, Jung Ji-yi, Executive Vice President of Hyundai Movex and the eldest daughter of Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, who continues to foster future generations.
Kim received the Dongbaek Medal of the Order of Civil Merit for her contributions to youth education and gender equality, as well as the Kim Hwal-lan Leadership Award for Women.
She is survived by four daughters: Hyun Il-seon (spouse of Yoo Seung-ji, Chairperson of Yongmun Academy), Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun (spouse of the late Chung Mong-hun, former Chairman of Hyundai Group), Hyun Seung-hye, and Hyun Ji-seon (spouse of Byun Chan-jung, CEO of HST).
Her siblings include the late Kim Chang-seong, former honorary chairman of Jeonbang and the third president of the Korea Employers Federation, and Kim Moo-sung, former leader of the Saenuri Party (predecessor to the People Power Party).
The funeral is being held in Special Room 1 at the Sinchon Severance Hospital Funeral Hall, and the burial will take place at Cheonan Park Cemetery at 7:20 a.m. on December 27.
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