ED Good example of charity

Kakao founder deserves praise for deciding to donate wealth

Kakao Corp. Chairman Kim Beom-su, one of Korea's self-made business tycoons, expressed his intention Monday to donate more than half of his wealth to “help solve social problems.” Kim's net worth is estimated to be more than 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion), including 12.5 million shares of Kakao valued at over 5.7 trillion won. “As I watched social problems deepen in various areas, I thought I should not defer my decision any longer,” Kim said in a New Year message to his employees.

Besides the massive amount of money involved, Kim's decision is noteworthy in terms of motivation. Occasional large-scale donations by the heads of large business groups in the past have, more often than not, caused doubts about their true intentions. Some tycoons did so to express atonement for irregularities uncovered or had to bite the bullet yielding to the “power elite's demands.” Others created public trusts as a means of avoiding taxes and regulations accompanying property inheritance.

As far as is known so far, Kim's pledge does not belong in any of these categories. If Kim's motivation to donate is entirely to solve social problems, it deserves to be recognized as a good example of true charity. Kim, who started as an ordinary salaried company worker, became a star startup entrepreneur with the success of Kakao, the nation's largest mobile messenger operator, in 2010. The Kakao Group, composed of internet- and mobile-based affiliates, has been the target of profit-sharing demands from political and civic groups for accumulating assets amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

If a tycoon who benefited from the current preference for non-face-to-face business transactions makes a “bona fide resolution,” it will create a good precedent of profit-sharing without controversy or adverse effects. Kim said he would put together his employees' ideas and thoughts to come up with concrete ways to spend the money. We recommend that Kim and his group open the discussion to outsiders, including customers, civic groups and shareholders. The procedures and formalities involved in carrying out what will be the biggest donation in the nation's corporate history are too important to be left to insiders within the group alone.