LG's Hero Award Changed by Koo Kwang-mo... 30 Hidden Heroes of 'Long-term Good Deeds' Discovered Over 5 Years

Silent Heroes Awarded for Their Social Contributions

Gu Kwang-mo, CEO of LG Corporation, said after becoming the group chairman in June 2018, "Let's approach society in our own sincere way." Since then, the scope of the LG Hero Award has been expanded from people involved in life-saving, accident, and crime response to long-term good citizens. The award was changed to recognize not only those who saved others' lives but also citizens who have quietly served their neighbors for decades as heroes.

One of the developments following CEO Gu's inauguration was expanding the scope of the Hero Award to include long-term good citizens, continuing and developing the tradition and will of the late former chairman Gu Bon-moo.

The LG Hero Award is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity led by the head of a large corporation to award ordinary people unrelated to the group. LG was the first Korean company to start this. It was established by the LG Welfare Foundation under the direction of former chairman Gu in 2015. It gave a certain prize money and a plaque to those who saved other people's lives.

Former chairman Gu intended to reward Lee Seung-seon, who saved 10 residents at a fire accident site in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, but after hearing the response, "No need for money, just buy me a drink," he decided to give awards to heroes regularly and officially. The idea was to give prize money and plaques after a committee review process. LG does not disclose the amount of prize money externally, explaining that it is not important and could burden the recipients.

After becoming chairman in 2018, CEO Gu suggested adding long-term good deeds to the Hero Award categories. From January the following year, long-term good deed awardees began to be selected. It was judged that the existing award method could not properly reward those who quietly help their neighbors throughout society. An LG official described long-term good citizens as "people who quietly serve and perform good deeds for others over a long period."

One can understand how many years of service qualify someone as a long-term good citizen and at what age they might receive the award by looking at the numbers. A total of 201 people have received the award. From September 2015 to the end of 2018, 90 people received it, and from January 2019 to the 14th of this year, 111 people received the Hero Award. Among the 111 awardees since 2019, 30 (27%) are long-term good deed recipients. Of these 30, by age group: 4 in their 40s (13%), 10 in their 50s (33%), 7 in their 60s (23%), 4 in their 70s (13%), 3 in their 80s (10%), and 2 in their 90s (7%). The average service period of 25 of the 30 with available data is 28.9 years.

Baek Nak-sam, CEO of Masan Sinshin Wedding Hall.
Photo by Yonhap News

Baek Nak-sam, in his 80s, who operates Shinshin Wedding Hall in Masanhappo-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, is one of the 30 main recipients. He received the LG Hero Award in November 2021. Since 1967, he has provided free weddings to over 14,000 poor couples for 54 years. Baek said, "I did this hoping that no one would be unable to have a wedding because of lack of money." He shared part of the prize money with others. Among the 111 recipients, 35 shared their prize money with other neighbors like Mr. Baek.

Park Jong-su, an 80-year-old dentist operating in Gwangju, received the award in September 2020 after 55 years of medical volunteer work since 1965. Since 1991, he also volunteered at the free meal service 'Love Restaurant.'

There are also figures from academia and the medical field. Professor Ko Young-cho of Konkuk University Medical School's Department of Neurosurgery joined the Catholic Student Association in 1973 and volunteered weekly in medically underserved areas such as Seoul's shantytowns. After 48 years of service, he received the award in May 2021. In 2005, when a patient with hydrocephalus (a condition where cerebrospinal fluid abnormally accumulates in the brain) had not been heard from after visiting, he went to the patient's home, transported the unconscious patient to Konkuk University Hospital, and personally performed surgery to save him.

The LG Hero Award has also inspired other companies. A representative example is the 'POSCO Heroes' selected by the POSCO Chungam Foundation since 2019. They select and award ordinary heroes who serve society. An LG insider familiar with the situation said, "Seven to eight other companies have inquired about LG's Hero Award system."

LG does not consider the Hero Award as an activity to enhance the company's brand value. An LG official said, "It is a CSR activity to properly find and reward heroes, not to raise ESG management indicators."

'ESG' stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, which are non-financial factors of a company. 'ESG management' refers to pursuing sustainable development through environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and transparent management from a long-term perspective. In other words, it is a type of management activity. On the other hand, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) refers to activities that positively impact society beyond profit-seeking activities necessary for a company's continuous existence.

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