South Korea's figure skating star Kim Yu-na has emerged as a queen of giving, donating more than 2 billion won.
According to Sports Hankook, the sister paper of The Korea Times, Kim has been involved in a variety of donation programs since 2007, ranging from sponsoring figure players to subsidizing patients suffering from rare diseases.
Kim, who won the opener of the year's Grand Prix Skating Championship last week, makes it a rule to give 12 million won to figure skating aspirants every year. At the same time, she has selected 10 promising figure players and gave each of them 5 million won.
These donations are intended to promote the country's backward skating circles, sports analysts say.
The figure queen is also setting aside part of her model fees to help those in need. In particular, she gave 100 million won out of her model fee for a school uniform ad as a scholarship for students of poor households.
Kim also donated 140 million won she earned for participating in the Christmas gala show last year to children ailing with cancer and other rare diseases.
With regard to Kim's donations, fans express profound admiration and love, saying she is setting a good example as a sports star.
|
.jpg)
yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
