Mr. Park Gyutae Awarded Ministerial Commendation for 468 Blood Donations over 34 Years... 'Blood Donor Day' Commemoration Ceremony Held

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Red Cross held a 'Blood Donor Day' event on the 14th at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul.

Blood Donor Day was established to express respect and gratitude to blood donors who practice life-sharing and to raise awareness of the importance of blood donation. The Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and other international blood donation organizations established World Blood Donor Day on June 14th, the birthday of Dr. Karl Landsteiner, who discovered the ABO blood group and won the Nobel Prize in 2004. In South Korea, it was designated as a national commemorative day through the revision of the Blood Management Act in 2021.

On this Blood Donor Day, a commemorative ceremony was held to award 30 individuals and 15 groups for their blood donation contributions. Additionally, a blood donation bus was operated to encourage participation, and promotional spaces related to blood donation were set up to raise awareness of its importance through side events.

Mr. Park Gyutae (70), the individual representative recipient of the Minister’s Commendation for Blood Donation Merit, was recognized for his contributions, having started donating blood in 1987 and participating in a total of 468 donations over 34 years until last year’s blood donation retirement age (whole blood 69 years old, component donation 59 years old). He also consistently practiced community sharing through free meal service and briquette delivery.

Alongside this, a consultation and registration space for organ donor registration was also operated to raise awareness of posthumous organ donation and to promote the culture of donation.

Park Minsu, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, filled out an organ donor registration application and donated blood on the blood donation bus. Vice Minister Park said, "I hope that the practice of life-sharing such as blood donation will be remembered for a long time, permeate every corner of our daily lives, and that the culture of life-sharing donations will spread."

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