Leeum honorary director receives Dongbaek Medal for charitable contributions spanning arts, medical care, social welfare
Hong Ra-hee, honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art and widow of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, was awarded the Dongbaek Medal of the Order of Civil Merit on Monday for more than four decades of philanthropy spanning arts, health care and social welfare.
The Dongbaek Medal is the third-highest of five grades of the Order of Civil Merit, a government honor recognizing contributions to public welfare and national development. Hong previously received a gold-level humanitarian award from the Korean Red Cross in 2024.
One of the family's largest contributions came in 2021, when Hong and other surviving family members, including her son, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, donated some 23,000 works of art from the late chairman's collection to the state.
Known as the KH Collection, or the Lee Kun-hee Collection, the donated works include "Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang," a celebrated landscape painting by Jeong Seon from the Joseon era. The works have since been exhibited in Korea and abroad, with an international tour beginning at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington in November 2025, followed by exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the British Museum in London.
Hong attended gala receptions associated with the overseas exhibitions alongside other family members, including Lee Jae-yong.
The Samsung family also donated 1 trillion won ($756 million) from Lee Kun-hee's estate to medical causes. Of that, 300 billion won was earmarked for childhood cancer and rare disease treatment and research, while 700 billion won was allocated to a national infectious disease hospital and related medical facilities.
Beyond the family donations, Hong has personally supported numerous charitable organizations, particularly the Korean Red Cross. She became a founding member of its Red Cross Honors Club in 2016, joining donors who had contributed at least 100 million won. In 2025, she joined the organization's 1 billion won donors' club.
Her other contributions include 1 billion won to the Youth Happiness Foundation and 355 million won to the Yongsan Welfare Foundation, supporting young people and vulnerable communities.
Hong has also funded Buddhist cultural heritage preservation and supported welfare and cultural initiatives run by Buddhist, Won Buddhist and Catholic organizations.
yeeun@heraldcorp.com