Sejung Group extends W400m in residential, education and welfare support to 600 households

Sejung Group announced Tuesday that it carried out corporate social responsibility activities worth a total of 400 million won ($260,000) in the first half of this year.

Since establishing the Sejung Nanum Foundation — the first social welfare foundation in South Korea's fashion industry — in 2011, the group has sustained a wide range of charitable activities spanning residential support, healthcare and education. It conducted six social contribution projects in the first half of this year.

Its flagship initiative, "Home Repair with Love," which has run for 17 years, reached a cumulative total of 330 households. A program to replace aging slate roofs is now in its eighth year. This year, the group will support residential environment improvements for about 20 more households.

New projects were also added this year. Working with a community self-sufficiency center in Geumjeong-gu, the group provided hygiene supplies and clothing to program participants and ran a cultural arts instructor training program aimed at helping women who have left the workforce and other vulnerable groups achieve economic independence. About 300 low-income households received everyday living support.

The group also ran "Cozy Home," a public-private-academic partnership for home repairs for vulnerable residents, and a dementia prevention program with the Geumjeong-gu public health center. A book-sharing initiative to promote reading culture and resource recycling is now in its fourth year.

In the second half of the year, the group plans to improve working conditions for people with disabilities through a project to build the country's first shared office space exclusively for disabled entrepreneurs and job seekers. It also intends to launch a new HPV vaccination support project in partnership with Dong-A University Hospital and a regional children's center network, targeting children from low-income families.

A Sejung Nanum Foundation official said the group had "pursued tailored social contribution activities in the first half of this year to address gaps in the welfare safety net," adding that it would "continue genuine sharing activities grounded in the philosophy that giving is not a choice but a responsibility."