The Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, has gone global not only with its smartphones and other products but also with steady financial support for those in need abroad.
Major beneficiaries include Korean War veterans and their offspring.
Samsung has provided them with a total of around US$8.5 million in various aid programs since the early 1990s, according to group officials on Monday.
The campaign is based on the belief that the sacrifice of the war veterans is the reason for the rise of the South Korean economy and Samsung.
In 1990, Lee Kun-hee, chairman of the Samsung Group, attended a fundraising dinner for the Korean War Veterans Memorial Commission at a hotel in Washington D.C. Other participants included then-U.S.
President George H.W. Bush, Richard Stilwell, top commander of U.S. Forces Korea, and Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Samsung was a major sponsor of the event. It donated $100,000 to the construction of the memorial established in 1992 on National Mall.
Last year, Samsung provided the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation with $1 million for the maintenance of the memorial.
It has financially supported the construction of similar monuments in Britain and Ethiopia.
Samsung has also been endowed scholarships for the families of Korean War veterans in the U.S. and other countries such as Turkey, Colombia and Thailand.
More than 3,000 students, including 1,900 in the U.S., benefited from Samsung's initiative.
In 2013, Samsung was honored for its work with the American Legion's Patriot Award.
In South Africa, Samsung has donated some $650,000 for the improvement of medical services for war veterans and their families. (Yonhap)
