Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Why is Samsung enhancing support for multicultural youth?
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By Baek Byung-yeul
Tech giant to launch sports programs in March to foster children's assimilation into Korean society
Samsung Group’s recent announcement of new corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs is drawing attention as the conglomerate seeks to support multicultural youth and seniors in line with the nation's changing demographics, according to industry officials, Friday.
On Wednesday, the nation’s top conglomerate announced the launch of two new CRS initiatives aimed at supporting socially vulnerable groups – multicultural youth and senior citizens.
The first initiative is titled the Samsung Multicultural Youth Sports Class, which aims to boost the confidence and social skills of multicultural teenagers through sports. The second initiative is the Samsung Senior Digital Academy, which aims to help the elderly overcome digital literacy gaps and provide support for crime prevention and employment.
The Samsung Multicultural Youth Sports Class will be operated by Cheil Worldwide, the marketing unit of the group, while the Samsung Senior Digital Academy will be operated by its security solution unit S-1.
These initiatives will involve participation from government organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and external experts in various fields to establish an integrated support system and enhance the professionalism and practical support of the programs.
Cheil Worldwide CEO Kim Jong-hyun said Samsung Group is introducing these programs to provide a helping hand to those who are marginalized in society and ensure that no one is left behind in the changing social structure.
“Samsung has previously focused on youth education and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, but now aims to expand the support to multicultural and aging societies,” the CEO said.
“Supporting multicultural youth and the elderly to prevent social exclusion and help them showcase their abilities as valuable members of society is our mission.”
Before launching these new CSR programs, Samsung Group sought ideas from its nine affiliated companies' employees since last year and received around 900 ideas. Through voting, the initiatives to support multicultural youth and the elderly were chosen.
The participating nine affiliates are Cheil Worldwide, S-1, Samsung Biologics, Samsung Bioepis, Hotel Shilla, Samsung Welstory, Samsung Medical Center, Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center and Samsung Global Research.
Samsung Group employees pose by the group’s new corporate social responsibility programs at Samsung C&T’s Raemian Gallery in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
“There have been discussions at the group level to expand the scope of CSR programs as our society becomes more diverse and multifaceted. As a result, we decided to focus on multicultural youth and the elderly,” a spokesman of Cheil Worldwide said.
“Based on government statistics and other research on multicultural youth, we discovered that they face difficulties in communication and peer relationships. It is important to create opportunities for them to communicate, and we believe that sports can play a crucial role in this aspect,” the official said, adding that team sports like football or basketball seem suitable for the program as these games involve physical interaction and foster teamwork.
Cheil Worldwide expects to start the sports program in around March next year after deciding the target area and scale with local authorities and NGOs. The estimated number of youth will be around 300. S-1 also plans to launch its support program for the elderly in the first half of 2024.