Park Moo-geun, CEO of Mikwang Electronics Co., Ltd. Donate 100 million won anonymously to Daegu Fruit of Love every year
“Consistently donating to the thoughts of a difficult childhood”
Park Moo-geun, CEO of Mikwang Electricity Co., Ltd., so-called ‘the tall man’, who has donated 1 billion won anonymously to the Daegu Social Welfare Community Chest (Daegu Fruit of Love) for the past 10 years. Reporter Bae Joo-hyun
The identity of ‘Daegu Kidari,’ who has donated more than 100 million won anonymously for the past 10 years, has been revealed.
The main character is Park Moo-geun, CEO of Mikwang Electronics Co., Ltd., which runs a business in Geomdan-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu. He is also a member of ‘Honor Society’ Daegu 200, a club for individual major donors of the Community Chest of Korea in February.
From 2012 to 2020, CEO Park visited the Daegu Social Welfare Community Chest every year at the end of the year to anonymously donate more than 100 million won. Over the past 10 years, he has donated over 1.35 billion won.
For donations that have been made every year, the fundraiser asked CEO Park his name and occupation, but he did not reveal his existence, saying, “Don’t ask.” The reason is that he simply wanted to live with his neighbors and did not want to cause any misunderstanding.
When delivering the last donation in December 2020, CEO Park also delivered the donation through quick service along with a memo stating that he kept his promise to donate 1 billion won over 10 years.
CEO Park’s good deeds began with a sense of pity for his neighbors.
Born in Gunwi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, he had a poor childhood and worked for an electric company in Daegu for about 10 years.
He established Mikwang Electric Industry Co., Ltd. in 1979, and took the first step towards donation from around 2001, when the company was established to some extent. Recalling the difficult past, he opened a donation account and saved about 10% of the monthly salary of all employees every month.
The donations collected by President Park were delivered to social welfare facilities and institutions such as the Korea Scholarship Foundation, the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Hall, the Korean Red Cross, and the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation.
Then one day, CEO Park said that he bought a luxury car for business and felt sorry and guilty for no reason. I started anonymously donating to the Community Chest of Korea as a way to help others with the money to buy a car.
He said, “I started putting in another savings account for the regret I felt while purchasing the car, and I sent an anonymous donation to the Community Chest of Korea. There was a great resonance while sending the donation. That echo became the driving force for my donation.”
Then, in 2014, he donated the education development fund for the educational development and nurturing of talents in his hometown of Gunwi, and in 2019, he donated 100 million won to the Gyeongbuk Social Welfare Community Chest to commemorate his deceased father’s spirit of sharing, giving his father’s name (the late Park Tae-jo) an honor. It was also posted on the Society membership.
CEO Park, who had been hiding his existence for so long, said that he appeared with the wish, “I hope that the sharing culture will be established in Daegu.”
He said, “I also kept anonymity because I was worried that I had flaws and could cause misunderstandings when I announced my existence,” he said.
He hoped, “I am where I am today because of the employees and business partners who worked together with my family. I am making donations on behalf of these people. I hope that many people will participate in sharing activities in the future.”