Young People Who Met Park Hyun-joo and Choi Soo-yeon and Donated Their Talents... Hankyunghyeop 'Gat-saeng-han-kki' Part 2

20 Talented Youth Volunteers... 'Challenge Beyond the Impossible'
Selected Startup CEOs, Office Workers, University Students
Buying Welfare Center Stocks and Volunteering Protein for Seniors

The Korea Economic Leaders Association announced that it held the second round of the Korean version of Buffett lunch, "Godsaenghanki," on the 11th at Mirae Asset Center One in Jung-gu, Seoul. Twenty young people who promised to donate their talents met with Park Hyun-joo, Chairman of Mirae Asset Group, and Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, to communicate about "challenges beyond the impossible." Godsaenghanki is a public communication project announced by the Korea Economic Leaders Association through its mid- to long-term development plan, "New Way Initiative," in February. Godsaeng is a compound word of "God" and "saeng" (life), meaning a model and diligent life.

The Korea Economic Leaders Association received talent donation plans from applicants from October 29 to last month’s 26th. They evaluated the plans based on creativity, feasibility, and impact, selecting 20 people. The association said, "The purpose is to spread positive influence through talent donation for society, not money."

The occupations of the young participants were diverse, including startup CEOs, office workers, university students, doctors, freelancers, international students, and interns. They promised various talent donation plans utilizing their experiences, specialties, and main jobs.

For example, office worker A, who participated in Chairman Park’s lunch talk, planned to give a lecture titled "Preparing for a Stable Retirement through Dividend Stock Investment" to local residents and donate Mirae Asset 2 Preferred B stocks to a welfare center. Startup CEO B, who runs a protein shake company and participated in CEO Choi’s lunch talk, said they would distribute protein shakes as meal replacements for the elderly.

The average age of participants was 27. They ranged from those born in 2002 (age 21) to those born in 1989 (age 34). There were 13 men and 7 women.

Chairman Hyun-Joo Park of Mirae Asset Group. [Photo by Hankyung]

In the first part of the event, a dialogue was held among Chairman Park, CEO Choi, and comedian Kim Won-hoon (MC) of the YouTube channel "ShortBox," which has 2.77 million subscribers. They talked about their impressions of meeting the youth, reasons for appearing, their usual Godsaeng daily routines, future dreams and plans, entrepreneurship, and social contributions of businesspeople. During the Q&A session, the young participants asked questions they were curious about to the leaders, who answered them. In the second part of the event, the leaders and groups of 10 participants ate sandwiches together and had conversations.

Lee Sang-yoon, head of the CSR division at the Korea Economic Leaders Association, cited the event’s keyword as "Jung-Kkeok-Geu-Ma" (meaning "the heart to keep going even when bent"). He said, "Chairman Park and CEO Choi are national representatives in finance and IT who have created innovation by continuously challenging without yielding to impossibility and failure, and they are living legends. We hope that current and future young entrepreneurs inherit their Jung-Kkeok-Geu-Ma spirit to spread entrepreneurship and become the second Park Hyun-joo and the second Choi Soo-yeon."

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver.
Photo by Hankyung Association

The Korea Economic Leaders Association held the first round of Godsaenghanki on May 25 at the FKI Tower (formerly the Federation of Korean Industries building) in Yeouido, Seoul. At that time, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, Socar CEO Park Jae-wook, No Hong-chul, CEO of No Hong-chul Genius Co., and 30 young people attended. The association announced that it plans to continue holding Godsaenghanki next year. It will also expand youth communication activities such as the "Future Leaders Camp (FuriCamp)," a free 2-night, 3-day event for 200 young people in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, from the 14th to 16th of next month, and the Korea Economic Leaders Association Youth Advisory Group.

At next month’s FuriCamp, Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin, writer Song Gil-young, Yanolja Cloud CEO Kim Jong-yoon, Chairman of the Korea Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation Nam Min-woo, and members of the YouTube channel "Pisik University" with 2.68 million subscribers (Lee Yong-joo, Jung Jae-hyung, Kim Min-soo) will attend and engage in conversations with young people.

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