Dongsuh Food, which led the introduction of coffee in Korea, has been active in funding art and culture through a variety of philanthropic activities, company officials said.

Some of their numerous campaigns include Dongsuh’s “Dongsuh Coffee Classic,” a free classical music concert to communicate with local governments and develop classical music. The program, started in 2008, has opened annually in major cities across Korea.

The company also showed value for the arts through the cultural asset foundation, where it donates used instruments for musical hopefuls from struggling families, provided libraries for underprivileged schools in a collaboration with Starbucks and holds its Scent of Life Dongsuh Literature Award ceremony every two years, acting as a gateway for up-and-coming female authors since 1973.

Dongsuh also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cultural Heritage Administration in April and kicked off the “Maxim Heritage Campaign,” named after their coffee product, on which they printed the image of the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of the Baekje Kingdom to raise awareness of cultural heritage.

The company has also held highly competitive Go competitions since 1999 for professional players of the traditional board game, and recently held a competition for amateur fans to bring awareness to nonplayers as well.

By Sang Youn-joo (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)