Taekwang Group Ilju Academic and Cultural Foundation Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Heo Seung-jo, Chairman of Ilju Foundation, is taking a commemorative photo in front of the bust of the first chairman, Lee Im-yong, located on the first floor of the Heungkuk Life Insurance Building headquarters in Gwanghwamun, marking the 30th anniversary of the foundation's establishment.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Taekwang Group announced on the 22nd that the Ilju Academic and Cultural Foundation (hereinafter Ilju Foundation) celebrated its 30th anniversary on the 19th. The Ilju Foundation is a scholarship foundation with assets totaling 75.3 billion KRW, operated for public interest purposes such as providing scholarships and research funds, and supporting educational institutions.

The first chairman, Ilju (一洲) Lee Im-yong, the founder of Taekwang Group, established the Ilju Foundation on July 19, 1990, by donating his private fortune with a strong will to nurture outstanding talents who could become the cornerstone of national and social development.

Over the past 29 years, the Ilju Foundation has carried out public interest projects worth 49.7 billion KRW for scholarship programs to nurture talent, educational support for families with disabilities, support projects for multicultural families, academic support projects, as well as the development of cultural and artistic projects.

The representative scholarship program is conducted for overseas doctoral students and domestic bachelor's degree students. Over the past 30 years, a total of 194 overseas doctoral scholarship recipients have been produced, with approximately 23.8 billion KRW in scholarships awarded, and for domestic master's, doctoral, and bachelor's scholarship recipients, a total of 1,647 people have received 15.5 billion KRW in scholarships.

The Ilju Foundation has decided to omit events commemorating the 30th anniversary of its establishment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing projects such as scholarship programs and other support activities will continue as usual.

Heo Seung-jo, chairman of the Ilju Foundation, said, "To maintain the founding philosophy of the late chairman Ilju Lee Im-yong, which is the philosophy of Muju-sang-bose (無住相布施) meaning to give without expecting anything in return, we will continue the social contribution activities that have lasted for the past 30 years and will spare no interest and support for various public interest projects in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.