Global Friends hosts 1st Global Peace Awards in celebration of 20th anniversary
Global Friends, a Seoul-based nonprofit known for its humble yet consistent acts of service, marked its 20th anniversary with the inaugural Global Peace Awards ceremony at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Thursday. Under the leadership of President Choi Kyou-taek, the organization presented awards in three categories: the Walton Walker Award, the Choi Jae-hyung Award and the Global Friends Service Award. Founded on the principle of “doing small but necessary work,” Global Friends has spent two decades supporting marginalized communities in Korea and assisting with education and postwar recovery efforts in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Though modest in size — comprising fewer than 200 members — the group has maintained a spirit of sustained and heartfelt volunteerism, relying on small contributions from everyday citizens rather than large-scale funding. The Walton Walker Award was posthumously awarded to U.S. Army Sergeant Kim Shin-woo, a Korean American medic who died in Iraq in 2007 at the age of 23 after throwing himself on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. In 2017, the U.
