A female entrepreneur in her 80s donated a large amount of 60 billion won, the largest since the establishment of the school at KAIST, KAIST. 

The chairman of the light source industry, Lee Soo-young, made a donation yesterday (23rd) in the afternoon of KAIST Daejeon headquarters to establish a'Lee Su-young Science Education Foundation' by presenting a real estate worth KRW 66.7 billion.

This donation is the largest amount since the opening of KAIST.

President Lee said, "I wanted to spend my money meaningfully before I died, but I had no object to give."

He said, "25% of the research masters of semiconductors and doctors working at Samsung Electronics, the world's leading company, come from KAIST."


This is the third time President Lee has donated a large amount to KAIST.

My first relationship with KAIST was in 2012 when I decided to testify (equivalent to dispose of my estate by will) of 8 billion won worth of real estate in the United States.

President Lee said, “I thought about donating after looking at the interview of President Nam Nam-pyo at the time when I thought that donating to pursuing personal prowess did not fit my thoughts. "I was empathetic to the word that is the driving force of development."

Chairman Lee also bequeathed 1 billion won of US real estate in 2016, so far, the total donation amounted to 77.6 billion won.

Sung-cheol Shin, President of KAIST, said, "Lee Su-young, who is also Chairman of the KAIST Development Foundation, has always said that it is a wish for the Nobel Prize for Science to come out in our country." To promise that, all members of the school will do their best.

On the other hand, Lee, who graduated from Gyeonggi Girls' High School and Seoul National University Law School, worked as a daily journalist in the Seoul Newspaper in 1963, and after being dismissed in 1980, began to walk the path of entrepreneurs in earnest.

(Photo = Yonhap News)