Ex-first lady Lee wins YWCA leadership award

Former first lady Lee Hee-ho, center, poses with winners of the 11th annual Korea Women Leaders Award at the Korea Federation of Banks building in downtown Seoul, Thursday. Lee won the Women's Leadership Award. Other award winners are Lee Ae-ran, second from left, head of the Institute of Traditional North Korean Food and Kang Kyung-wha, second from right, assistant secretary-general and deputy emergency relief coordinator at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Others are YWCA President Cha Kyung-ae, left, and Citibank Korea CEO Ha Yung-ku. / Yonhap

By Kwon Ji-youn

Lee Hee-ho, a former first lady and president of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, received the Women's Leadership Award from the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Korea on Thursday.

The YWCA said that it has selected Lee as the recipient of the award for devoting her life to democracy in Korea.

Lee, 81, widow of the late President Kim Dae-jung, is one of Korea's most notable female leaders and a symbol of the feminist movement.

The YWCA also conferred its Young Leader Award on Lee Ae-ran, head of the Institute of Traditional North Korean Food. Kang Kyung-wha, assistant secretary-general and deputy emergency relief coordinator at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), won the special award.

The three women received their citations for the 11th annual Korea Women Leaders Award from co-founders, the YWCA and Citibank Korea. The award ceremony was held at the Korea Federation of Banks building in downtown Seoul.

Lee Ae-ran, 49, was the first female North Korean defector to earn a doctorate in South Korea. She obtained the degree in nutritional engineering from Ewha Womans University.

She defected in 1998, and has contributed to the understanding of cultural differences between the South and the North, and supported many other women defectors.

Kang, 58, is an international human rights activist who is widely recognized for her efforts to advocate human rights not only in Korea but around the world.

The YWCA also held a ceremony to celebrate the publication of a book written by eight previous winners of the leadership awards. The book recounts how the eight women leaders worked in their own fields to promote peace and create a better society.

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