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Actress Lee Young-ae donates 100K to help Taiwanese baby

July 1, 2014

Taiwanese news media extensively reported about Lee’s good deeds. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korean actress Lee Young-ae, an icon of the Asia-wide boom of Korean pop culture, has donated about 100 million won (US$98,863) for a Taiwanese baby who was born prematurely during her parents’ trip to Seoul in late February, her management agency and Taiwanese news media said Tuesday.

The sum was used for paying hospital bills for the baby girl, who received two surgeries over the past four months, they said.

The baby’s parents, who are fans of South Korean pop culture, came to Seoul in late February, according to the Taiwanese media.

The wife, who was pregnant, slipped on a hotel floor and gave birth to the girl two months earlier than the due date. The baby, who weighed only 1 kilogram at birth, then had to receive two surgeries at two hospitals in Seoul for biliary obstruction and a liver ailment over the past four months.

The baby’s surgeries were successful, but the couple couldn’t be discharged from the last hospital they stayed at because they could not afford to pay the medical bills.

As the baby’s story quickly spread among the Taiwanese community in South Korea, a fund-raising campaign was set up to help the family. The parents allegedly sought help from the Taiwanese foreign ministry but to no avail.

That was when Lee happened to hear about the baby and paid the hospital bills on behalf of the baby’s parents. On June 29, she visited the family at a Seoul hospital.

“At first, Lee wanted to help them secretly but came to disclose her identity as the baby’s mother repeatedly asked for a chance to thank the person who helped her,” Lee’s management agency said. “The mother gave free vent to her tears when she met Lee.”

The couple and their baby returned to their home in Taiwan on Monday, the agency said.

Taiwanese news media, meanwhile, extensively reported Lee’s good deeds, saying the actress who became one of the most beloved Korean TV stars in Taiwan for her lead role in the Korean drama series “Daejanggeum” returned the love she had received from the Taiwanese people.

“I thought big stars like Lee can be seen only on TV, but she appeared before us like a friend and even provided decisive help when we badly needed that. I’ve never imagined a situation like this,” the mother was quoted as saying in a Taiwanese media upon entering the country.

The actress even invited the family to come to visit her house in Seoul when the baby becomes old enough for a trip, the mother added.

The 2003 smash-hit Korean epic series “Daejanggeum,” also known as “Jewel in the Palace,” tells the tale of an orphaned cook who goes on to become the king’s first female physician.

The show drew nearly 46.2 percent of viewers in South Korea and was later exported overseas to trigger the latest Korean cultural boom known as “hallyu” in China, Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia. In Taiwan alone, the series was popular enough to be aired 14 times on cable channels over the past 11 years.