This Nov. 12, 2020, file photo shows South Korean actor Jung Woo-sung. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean actor Jung Woo-sung has donated 100 million won (US$85,740) to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Korea to provide humanitarian aid to people in war-torn Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.
According to the South Korean office of the U.N. refugee agency, Jung, the goodwill ambassador for the agency, donated the money to “help Afghans under threats of violence and terrorism.”
“I hope this money will help Afghans who have lost their homes and are living in dark times in the recent crisis and also UNHCR officials working to help them,” Jung said, calling for more attention to the situation.
Since the Taliban took over Kabul last month, violence and fear have escalated in Afghanistan, prompting many Afghans to flee the country.
More than 590,000 Afghans have lost their homes and almost half of the country’s population, or 18 million people, are currently in humanitarian crisis, according to the UNCHR Korea.
South Korea has evacuated nearly 400 Afghan co-workers and their family members under a military mission, codenamed Operation Miracle, as they faced possible Taliban threats for having supported foreign operations.
Since being announced as a goodwill ambassador to UNHCR in 2015, the 48-year-old actor has traveled to many countries in refugee crisis, including Bangladesh, Iraq and Nepal, and continued to work to raise public awareness on the issue.
In August, he provided a donation to Rohingya refugees who fled from systematic discrimination and military violence in Myanmar.
He also donated money to help children refugees settled here to receive the medical treatment they needed.
Jung has starred in a number of hit movies, including “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” (2008) and the “Steel Rain” series released in 2017 and 2019.
(Yonhap)
