By Lee Hyo-sik
A 54-year-old Chinese food delivery man who died in traffic accident has been honored in cyberspace for his good deeds to help unfortunate children.
Thousands of condolence messages flooded the website of Child Fund Korea to which Kim Wu-soo has been making donation for years, despite personal financial difficulties. It is a nonprofit organization caring for orphans and other marginalized children locally and abroad.
Hundreds of tweets were also posted in his memory for his generosity.
Kim was involved in a motorcycle accident at around 8 p.m. on Sept. 23 while making a delivery. He was immediately transferred to a hospital but was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. on Sept. 25.
Kim appeared on several TV programs for his good deeds. Of his monthly wage of 700,000 won ($667), he was said to donate up to 100,000 won to the organization over the years.
Kim also purchased a life insurance policy in 2007 under which beneficiaries, who are children he sponsored through the group, would receive up to 40 million won at the time of his death. He made monthly insurance payments of 120,000 won for two and a half years.
Sadly, however, the children will not get the insurance money as Kim stopped making the payments in Sept. 2009, due to financial hardships.
Among the thousands of messages posted on a bulletin board set up by the Child Fund Korea in Kim’s honor, a netizen who identified himself as Kang Jeong-guen said he feels ashamed, adding that he will donate to the organization on behalf of him.
Another Internet user named Kang Young-soo said he will follow Kim’s footstep, wishing the deceased to rest in peace.
Twitter ID ``rlag****’’ said he feels conscience-stricken that several million won sits in his bank account, adding Kim’s death made him look back at how he has lived.
The Child Fund Korea set up Kim’s mortuary at Seoul BokJi Hospital, Wednesday, as he had no family. Many citizens visited the hospital to pay their condolences. The funeral ceremony will be held Thursday morning.