10,000 Samsung workers participate in blood donation

About 10,000 workers from Samsung Group’s affiliates participated in a blood donation campaign aimed to boost the nation’s blood reserves, the group said Monday.

The nation’s largest conglomerate launched the campaign earlier this month at each affiliate’s office. The group’s affiliates, including Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T, plan to donate 10,000 won ($8.85) per worker participating in the campaign. The funds will be donated to charity organizations including the Korean Association of Medical Social Workers, Red Cross and Korea Childhood Leukemia Foundation, the group said.

Samsung employees donate blood at Samsung Electronics’ office in Seocho, Seoul, Feb. 1. (Samsung Group)

Since 1996, Samsung has held an in-house blood donation campaign every February. Around 310,000 employees have donated blood so far, officials said when launching the campaign on Feb. 1.

The group has run the campaign every February for the past 21 years, as the nation faces a severe shortage of blood during winter. As of Jan. 31 this year, the reserves had dropped to an amount only sustainable for four days. According to the Korea Red Cross, the recommended number of days for keeping the blood reserves at a stable level is five.

As part of the campaign, the group also donated two buses worth 500 million won to the Red Cross.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)