Significantly increased visits to and volunteer services for individual residents
The first unusual companion coverage since last June
On the 22nd, First Lady Kim Gun-hee is moving to deliver a ‘Hope Box’ containing groceries to a small room in Namdaemun, Seoul. Provided by the President’s Office
First lady Kim Kun-hee, spouse of President Yoon Seok-yeol, is taking a wide-ranging move at the end of the year. In addition to diplomatic schedules with foreign guests and official events with married couples, as well as individual actions, visits to livelihood sites and volunteer activities have been greatly increased. On the 22nd, it was unusual for reporters to accompany reporters to the presidential office.
First lady Kim participated in the ‘Visiting Christmas, Sharing Hope Box’ event, which delivered a ‘Hope Box’ containing groceries to households residing in a small room in Namdaemun, Seoul. It is an event planned by the Salvation Army’s Korean military department and sponsored by Good People International to spread the culture of sharing.
In her greeting, Ms. Kim encouraged the officials, saying, “I am deeply grateful for the fact that I have put in a lot of effort to share warmth with my neighbors in need, and that they are still active and volunteering together.” Ms. Kim continued, “Please work together so that these activities can continue to have a profound impact on our society.”
He then found households residing in a small room and personally delivered the Hope Box. The President’s office reported that Ms. Kim said at this meeting, “I will continue to support the government and local communities more carefully so that I can live a warmer and less uncomfortable life in the future.”
This event was accompanied by a full (representative coverage) reporter from the press corps of the presidential office. In the meantime, most of Kim’s solo schedules have been kept private, and then disclosed posthumously through written briefings. It was the last time that a full press corps was covered like this day when I visited Madrid, Spain last June.
Mrs. Kim has recently greatly increased the scope of disclosure of her activities. This month, first lady Kim’s actions have been reported through the presidential office 13 times. Starting with the national prayer breakfast with President Yoon on the 5th, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s state dinner and tea party, national football team dinner, functional Olympic team luncheon, Win-Winter Festival opening ceremony, Seocho-dong sister-in-law’s thanksgiving, and youth talks , and a conversation with a future scientist. On this day, she also carried out four solo schedules, including volunteering in a small house village, volunteering for the Saemaul Undong Center, a single-parent family event, and visiting children in Cambodia.
It is a different atmosphere from the one that refrained from public activities as various controversies arose from the presidential election process to the beginning of the inauguration. An official from the presidential office said in a phone call, “The schedule has been expanded in line with the year-end period, when more and more people are taking care of the socially underprivileged and marginalized neighbors.”