Singer Hyun Sook donates 13th bath car to Cheongsong county
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Singer Hyun Sook, third from left, poses with a bath van she donated to Cheongsong County in North Gyeongsang Province, along with county officials Tuesday. / Yonhap
By Kim Ji-soo
She always has the word “filial” singer before her name, Hyun Sook. Not surprising as she donated her 13th bath motor vehicle to Cheongsong County in North Gyeongsang Province on Tuesday, ahead of Korea’s Parents’ Day that falls on May 8.
The mobile bath van, that enables the elderly to bathe, costs about 42 million won. The county, which has a population of about 22,000, has only two such vans while 30 percent of its population are 65 years and older.
“With this vehicle, we can provide baths to about four elderly residents a day,” said Shin Yong-beum, an official at the county.
The Korean folk pop singer has been donating a van every year for the past 12 years. She said that personally she wants to donate one every season; spring, summer, fall and winter, rather than just one a year. She started out in 2004 by donating the first bath van in her hometown of Gimje, North Jeolla Province, and has donated the vans to the cities and towns including Ulleung Island; Yeonpyeong Island; Hadong in South Gyeongsang Province; Jeongseon in Gangwon Province; Cheongyang in South Chungcheong Province; Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province; Jangheung, South Jeolla Province; Jeju Island; Yeongdong, North Chungcheong Province; Goheung, South Jeolla Province and Sunchang, North Jeolla Province.
She also bathed two Cheongsong residents in their 90s Tuesday.
She is known as a “filial” singer because of her attentive care of her parents who were ill. Her father passed away in 1996 after suffering from dementia, and her mother also passed away in 2007 after falling to a stroke and suffering for 14 years.
In addition to donating the bath van, she donates scholarships for young students in her hometown and is actively engaged in other charity works. At the same time, she keeps hard at her main job of singing on the stage. In June, she will leave for Brazil for a special edition of the network KBS’s “Gayo Stage.”