South Korean actress Lee Young-ae has been chosen as the winner of an international charity award for saving the life of a premature Taiwanese baby earlier this year, her management agency said Wednesday.

Lee, 43, will be presented with the Global Fervent Love of Lives Medal by the Chou Ta-guan Cultural and Educational Foundation, a Taiwanese non-profit, in a ceremony slated for May 2015, Leeyes said.

In late February, Lee spent nearly US$100,000 to cover the costs of medical procedures and hospitalization to save a Taiwanese baby who was born two months early in Seoul.

The mother had slipped at a hotel where she was staying with her husband. The baby had biliary atresia, a disease in which the common bile duct between the liver and small intestines is blocked, and received two surgeries over the following months.

Lee found out about the tragedy through a Taiwanese acquaintance and volunteered to cover the baby's treatment. She also paid visits to the hospital to check up on the baby and her mother.

Her charitable acts, however, were not known to the public until July. The belated news endeared her to the Taiwanese public, with the Taiwanese government sending her an appreciation plaque via its embassy in South Korea.

The Chou Ta-guan foundation was established in 1997 in memory of a Taiwanese boy of the same name who died of cancer at the age of 10.

The Love of Lives medal is given every year to recognize those who encourage others to cherish life. There have been 17 awards ceremonies with 280 awardees from 48 countries. (Yonhap)