A new appointee for the Korean Red Cross stirs controversy

The Korean Red Cross said that its central committee elected Kim Sung-joo, chairwoman of the Sungjoo Group, a fashion company, as its 28th president. Kim is the youngest president in the organization in history and is the second female president following Yoo Jung-keun, the incumbent president. She will take office on Oct. 8 after being approved by President Park Geun-hye, an honorary president of the Korean Red Cross. The term is three years and it is a non-standing position.

Kim is the youngest daughter of Kim Soo-geun, the founder of Daesung Industrial, and served as the chairwoman of the Sungjoo Group in 2005 and MCM Holdings in 2007. Now, she is the chair of the board of the Sungjoo Foundation, a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council, and a director of World Vision, a non-profit organization. By doing so, she has focused on increasing welfare for women and children including the victims of sexual violence and domestic violence, single parent families, and single mothers.

When Kim was elected as the president of the Korean Red Cross, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said, “It is (the president’s) return for her favor, and a classic example of the parachute appointment from the above,” Han Jeong-ae, the party’s spokesperson, said in a briefing on that day, “If Kim knows what the president of the Korean Red Cross means, she should reasonably decline the offer.”

Kim served as a co-chairman of the election committee of the Park Geun-hye camp in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. When she was asked in an interview with a media outlet after her service for the committee whether she intends to do politics, she implied no interest in politics, saying, “For the country, it is better for me to do business. I need to pioneer the global market.”

Some point out that the former businesswoman lacks expertise in the humanitarian sector, raising suspicions over her appointment as a return for the favor that she gave to President Park. This reporter contacted to Kim to no avail. She is on a business trip to Europe and is said to return home on Oct. 7.