Booyoung Group to donate W500 mil. to wildfire victims

Booyoung Group's headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Booyoung Group

By Kim Jae-heun

Booyoung Group will contribute 500 million won ($402,868) to the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association to help restore areas damaged by wildfire in the east coast region, the construction firm said on Monday.

It also plans to provide 300 apartments in Gangwon Province ― 70 in Gangneung and 230 in Donghae ― for victims to stay in until they can return to their homes.

“We will work with the local government to determine the number of victims and help them move into our shelters as soon as possible. We hope to aid them until things return to the normal,” a Booyoung Group official said.

Booyoung Group has been engaging in relief activities around the country and abroad for the past few decades. It provided 52 shelters for victims of the 2017 earthquake in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. It also offered 224 lodgings in Gangwon Province when wildfires broke out in 2019.

Booyoung Group raised funds for the bereaved families of soldiers killed on the Cheonan warship that was attacked by North Korea in 2010 and the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking.

Overseas, the construction firm donated relief funds to Sierra Leone, Peru and Colombia when they suffered flooding and to Laos when a dam collapsed there in July 2018.