First lady Kim Keon-hee holds a Cambodian child with a congenital heart disease while visiting his home in Phnom Penh on Nov. 12, 2022, in this photo provided by the presidential office.
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — First lady Kim Keon-hee visited the home of a Cambodian child with a heart disease Saturday and comforted the family, urging them not to give up under any circumstances, the presidential office said.
The 14-year-old child has a congenital heart disease and was meant to be present the previous day when the first lady visited Hebron Medical Center in Phnom Penh, a facility established in 2007 by South Korean pediatrician Dr. Kim Woo-jung.
The child, however, could not make it, because he was not feeling well, and Kim decided to visit him at his home instead, according to the presidential office.
“You can beat it, right? Get well and let’s meet in South Korea,” the first lady told the child as they linked pinkies.
To the family, she said: “There is certainly hope. Please don’t give up under any circumstances and keep going.”
The presidential office said the child’s father died before he was born, and that his mother and elder brother are not healthy, leaving him in the care of his sister-in-law, who works as a cleaner.
Kim arrived in Cambodia on Friday together with President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is here to attend a series of summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
After visiting the family, she visited the office of Smateria, an upcycling company known for supporting working mothers by giving them work and child care benefits.
“I heard Smateria means ‘switch,’ but it appears that it not only means a switch to environmental friendliness but a switch in perceptions on women’s jobs, working mothers, and coexistence between work and family,” Kim said, according to the presidential office.
Meanwhile, the first lady wrote a letter by hand and sent gifts to celebrate the first birthday of quintuplets born to a South Korean Army captain couple, the first quintuplets born in South Korea in 34 years.
The gifts were wooden toys reflecting her wish that the quintuplets will grow to be healthy and warm like hardwood, the office said.
(Yonhap)
