Many banks in South Korea are making the disabled a priority in efforts to give back to society.

Woori Bank hired 16 disabled people last month with the aim to develop a culture where the disabled and non-disabled can work together. After the three-week training program which started this week, the new employees will be working in various divisions including the call center and loan service center.

Employees who will be working with the new colleagues are also receiving training from Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled to fight off any prejudices they may have about the disabled and be ready to communicate with them.

“The 1,500 employees of Woori Bank and I will give our best support to help you (new employees) adjust to the bank. I hope you do your best to learn and therefore fix prejudices about the disabled and set an image that Woori Bank is a convenient bank,” said Woori Bank president Lee Soon-woo on Monday as he delivered the certificates to the new employees.

The bank also recently donated 200 million won ($175,000) to 20 social welfare organizations for the disabled to use in the second half of this year and has been hosting an annual jump rope competition for the disabled since 2009. In the competition held in April, over 400 Woori Bank employees, volunteer workers as well as the disabled participated. 

Executives at Shinhan Bank have been doing volunteer work every year at Young Nak Aenea’s Home, a care center for severely disabled children in central Seoul, since 2004. The bank also supports the annual Seoul International Wheelchair Marathon and Disabled Day events.

In August last year, the bank chipped in 1 billion won to build Sejong Maeul Purme Center, the nation’s first-ever private sector-led rehab institution for disabled children which opened on Wednesday.

Citi Bank has been hosting a walking event with the disabled since 2010 jointly with the International Disabled Trekking Association in hope to assist mental and social rehabilitation of the disabled. Most recently, the bank employees and disabled participants trekked up Gaehwa Mountain in eastern Seoul on June 16, also in commemoration of Citi Group’s 200th anniversary.

Standard Chartered Bank focuses on the visually impaired. Together with Vision Care Service, the only NGO in Korea recognized by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, the bank funded the treatment for 9,766 outpatients and 1,564 cataract operations through 16 overseas eye care projects in 2008 and 2011.

A total of 100 employees from the bank also narrated or typed twenty stories from December 2010 to March 2011 to produce 500 audio books and 100 Braille books that were distributed to schools and libraries for the visually impaired.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)