Park Chun-hee, mayor of Songpa district office in Seoul, won the second Korea Grand Prize for Sharing on Wednesday.

She was named the prize winner by the Korea Association of Hanbit, an association of recipients of the Proud Korean Awards. With the sharing award, she has become a candidate for the Proud Korean prize, whose winners are named by the Journalists Federation of Korea.

Park is credited with creative, custom-tailored welfare programs for children, seniors and the underprivileged in the district and a book-reading campaign. 

The district office spent 200 million won in proceeds from the operation of a solar power plant on giving aid to poor families who could not afford their utility bills. It also built the nation’s first district maternity health center.

The sharing award is sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Journalists Federation of Korea.

The award ceremony was held at 63City in Seoul on Wednesday afternoon.

Park is well known as a self-made, unyielding woman who went from a small restaurant owner to a civil servant after passing the annual judiciary exam as the then-oldest successful applicant after flunking nine times.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)