Korean-American couple donates million more to Seoul National University

A Korean American businessman’s couple has made a large donation to their alma mater Seoul National University. The university said on Tuesday that Park Byung-joon (82), chairman of the Park Family Foundation, and his wife Hong Jeong-hee (81, both graduates of the textile engineering department who entered the school in 1952) donated 1 million U.S. dollars. The latest contribution follows the Park couple’s earlier donation of 1 billion won (850,000 dollars) to the university in 2004.

“While agonizing over how to return the blessing that we received, we have decided to donate,” Park said, adding, “Korea also must have a mature donation culture like that in advanced countries.” Park, a graduate of Seoul National University, MIT in the U.S. and the University of Leeds in the U.K., founded the Merchandise Testing Lab in the U.S. in 1986, and sold the venture to France’s international quality validation agency, Bureau Veritas, for 2 billion dollars, before starting philanthropic activities in earnest.

한기재기자 record@donga.com