Lee Young-ji. Yonhap News
Singer Lee Young-ji, an icon of the MZ generation, has once again warmed the cold winter with a generous act of kindness.
On the 9th, the Korea Pediatric Leukemia Foundation, a nonprofit specializing in childhood cancer, announced that on February 3 Lee Young-ji delivered a total donation of 100 million won through a fan-participation content project.
In addition, she added her own money to the 258 million won raised through the ‘Cops and Robbers (Gyeongdo)’ content, bringing the total to 300 million won, and donated it under the name ‘Lee Young-ji’s Cops and Robbers’ to various children’s foundations and hospitals, further underscoring her sincerity.
The ‘Gyeongdo’ project, which served as the springboard for this donation, was proposed by Lee Young-ji herself and drew explosive attention, with about 100,000 people signing up when recruitment was announced on social media. Created in collaboration with the production company Egg Is Coming, this content combined simple play culture with giving and earned praise from the public as “a fresh and meaningful concept.”
What makes Lee Young-ji’s actions shine even more is that they are not one-offs. Starting with a 240 million won donation of phone case proceeds in 2021, she donated the entirety of her prize money for “Show Me the Money 11” in 2023, and in 2024~25 made donations in the hundreds of millions of won to support elderly people living alone and vulnerable groups and to help restore areas damaged by wildfires, consistently putting her convictions into action since her debut.
The convictions she expressed when she donated her “Show Me the Money” prize in the past are also being revisited. Lee Young-ji said, “I have never donated with any particular intention. The ultimate goal is to establish and run a charity,” and added, “Because it is still a grand goal, whenever an opportunity arises, I try to use it as a pretext and proceed step by step. Please do not misunderstand; I am just doing it regardless of the reason.”
Netizens are sending enthusiastic support for the steps of 2002-born young artist Lee Young-ji, who shows firsthand that how you spend money matters more than how you make it, saying, “This is real hip-hop and swag,” “A true cultural president, young in age but with so much to learn,” and “The epitome of young and rich.”
That is why expectations are growing for the next moves of Lee Young-ji, the ‘donation queen’ who spreads positive influence in society beyond being a mere artist.
