Dentist receives LG award for 55 years of community service

LG humanitarian awardees Park Jong-soo, left, and Cho Young-do smile in front of Restaurant of Love in Gwangju, on Sept. 16. / Courtesy of the LG Foundation

By Kim Jae-heun

An 80-year-old dentist Park Jong-soo was given the LG humanitarian award for providing voluntary medical services in underserved areas 55 years and providing free lunches at a soup kitchen for three decades.

According to the LG Foundation, Park started his community service when he was in his senior year at college in 1965. Park said he has provided dental treatment for over 30,000 people in the last 55 years. Park received the award alongside Cho Young-do who has run the soup kitchen for 30 years.

“We decided to give the LG Humanitarian Award to Park and Cho in the hope that the two's community spirit will spread throughout society,” an LG Foundation official said.

Every Sunday, Park serves the community with his wife, bringing some people to his clinic for free medical care.

The dentist also funded the establishment of the soup kitchen Restaurant of Love in 1991, and after the founder Huh Sang-hoi died two years ago, Park has been leading the welfare corporation that runs the soup kitchen.

Each day an average of 600 people visit Restaurant of Love to receive a hot meal.

“For me, volunteering is my destiny and mission.” Park said, adding that he hoped to develop Restaurant of Love into a larger welfare facility with a health improvement center for lonely senior citizens and homeless people.

Director of the Restaurant of Love Cho has been volunteering at the soup kitchen since it opened and is in charge of purchasing food supplies, serving meals and managing the cleanliness of the center.

“When I was young, I was poor and I received a lot of help from the community. I started doing voluntary work to give back and it has become my life now. As long as I am healthy, I will continue to serve the community,” Cho said.

The LG Humanitarian Award was created in 2015 reflecting the wishes of the late Chairman Koo Bon-moo who said his company should repay people who have dedicated themselves to improving society, as part of the firm's corporate social responsibility.

Koo Bon-moo was the grandson of LG founder Koo In-hwoi.

So far, 126 people have received the award.