By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A heart surgeon has pledged to donate most of his fortune to the community.
Prof. Song Myung-keun, 56, a noted cardiac surgeon at Konkuk University Hospital in Seoul, made public a will Friday in which he and his spouse pledge to contribute as much as 20 billion won to support disadvantaged people. The professor and his spouse wrote their will in 2002, leaving most of their property to society once they pass away.
Song built a huge fortune in a relatively short time thanks to his development of a medical tool named the ``SS-Ring'' that became very popular.
Dissatisfied with the heart surgery procedures in the 1990s, Song started researching to develop new methods, and succeeding in creating a procedure utilizing the device he developed. The new invention cuts the cost of surgery to 2.5 million won from 6 million won and is more efficient.
He founded a company producing the device in 1997.
``When I first witnessed my fortune swelling drastically, I was quite surprised rather than exciting,'' Song said. ``I made the private document public to prevent me from withdrawing my earlier decision due to any sudden greed for money.''
According to the will, each one of his two children will receive 300 million won.
Born in 1951, Song graduated from the medical school of Seoul National University. The surgeon first held a scalpel at the Seoul National University Hospital in 1976. He, served as a chief surgeon at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, before being recruited by Konkuk University Hospital in September this year.