By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak said Monday he will donate 33.1 billion won ($25 million), about 87 percent of his personal assets, to society next month, fulfilling a pledge he made during the 2007 campaign.
The Lee Myung-bak-Kim Yoon-ok Foundation, named after Lee and his wife, will be created early next month in order to use the donation for scholarships and welfare programs for the underprivileged.
Cheong Wa Dae hopes Lee's donation will raise social awareness of donations and become a lesson for politicians and businesspeople.
The assets to be donated include three buildings located in the affluent districts of Seocho-dong and Yangjae-dong in Seoul, and Lee's savings, the presidential office said. His remaining wealth is worth about 4.9 billion won, including a house in Nonhyeon-dong in Seoul.
``It was a long time ago that I decided to donate my wealth,'' Lee said in a statement. ``I've worked very hard to make money, so the assets are very valuable to me. But I hope the money will be used for others.''
Lee, a Christian, first revealed his intention to donate his assets in his autobiography, ``There Is No Such Thing As a Myth,'' published in 1995 when he was a lawmaker.
In it, he noted that he would not bequeath his assets to his children.
``My small fortune does not belong to me alone. The achievement was made possible thanks to the devotion of workers and their families as well as society. What I have so far achieved should be returned to society,'' Lee said in the book.
Lee pledged donation of his assets, except a house where he and his wife would live, in a nationally televised campaign speech in December 2007, after the prosecution cleared him of allegations that he was implicated in a stock price manipulation case.
There was a delay in fulfilling the promise because Lee needed time to decide what was ``the most meaningful'' way to use the donation, said Song Jeong-ho, a lawyer who has been heading a committee for the donation.
``We thoroughly reviewed the purpose and the goal of the foundation to reflect the President's wish that his donation help relieve the pains of our citizens and lead to the start of a donation campaign,'' Song, a former justice minister, told reporters.
The foundation was named ``Cheonggye'' in Korean, meaning ``clean valley,'' after Lee's pen name. The committee adopted a different name in English because it is difficult for non-Koreans to pronounce Cheonggye and understand its meaning.