Shin Bae Kim, president of SK Telecom, was selected as a man of merit, and decorated with a medal for his role in conducting community care activities.

On June 27th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Community Chest of Korea, held a ceremony designed to recognize people of merit for their 2005 community care activities in Backbum Kim Gu Memorial Hall located in Youngsan, Seoul. At the ceremony a total of 91 people received citations from the President of Korea, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Health and Welfare.

Decorations are the most honorable awards of the government. Of these decorations, the decoration of national merit is awarded to people or corporations who have contributed a great deal to the improvement of the national welfare and development of the national economy. The Ministry of Health and Welfare recommended SK Telecom as a winner of a presidential citation for its continuous and varied social contribution activities. This was decided in a Cabinet council on June 20th.

Under the slogan ’The Heart of Compassion’ SK Telecom fulfills its corporate responsibility by helping deserving members of society and carrying out a wide range of community care activities.

SK Telecom has a variety of programs that make it easy for its customers to share their compassion for their less fortunate neighbors. These include donating funds to help the needy use its mobile services, offering free mobile health check-up services and visiting homes of the disabled and single seniors to give bathing services. The company also organizes a variety of social relief activities through its mobile infrastructure. These efforts include finding missing children and missing senior people with dementia; short text transmission services in the event of disasters; and rescue assistance via cellular phones.

In addition, SK Telecom has hosted an Internet Search Contest for physically challenged youth every year since 1999. This event is aimed at promoting the IT capabilities of these children and resolving the information gap in the Korean society. SK Telecom’s community activities reach well beyond our national borders. The company has sponsored the remodeling of schools in Iraq, aided in the recovery of South Asian regions devastated by the 2004 tsunami, and sponsored free surgeries for Vietnamese children born with facial deformities.

SK Telecom also focuses on employee volunteer service activities. In 2004, the company organized 41 volunteer teams to actively carry out a broad range of community care programs for needy neighbors, physically challenged people, orphaned teenagers, and senior citizens without dependants. To date, a total of 59 volunteer teams with 3,555 members are promoting the spirit of volunteerism in joint efforts with employee families and the Sunny Volunteer Group which has over 20,000 teenagers and university students as members. These efforts were the main contributors to the earning of the prize.

SK Telecom spent a total of KRW38.4 billion in 2004 and KRW63.5 billion in 2005 on social contribution activities. In addition, the company donated KRW2 billion in 2002, KRW3 billion in 2003, KRW4 billion in 2004 and KRW5 billion in 2005 to the Community Chest of Korea for its role in giving a helping hand to the needy.

President Kim stated at the award ceremony, "We learned that volunteer services make a great impression on, and bring wonderful experiences to those who are serving, as well as to the needy. SK Telecom will continue to focus on disseminating the spirit and value of volunteerism throughout the company, as well as offering underprivileged children and needy neighbors a variety of community care programs and events".

In addition to receiving a medal of national merit, SK Telecom’s Western Marketing Division was selected as having an excellent volunteer group, and received a citation from the Minister of Health and Welfare.