[All] A donation of 5 billion is truly a different scale.

BTS' Suga announced that he would donate 5 billion won just two days after being discharged from the military.

According to Severance Hospital on the 23rd, Severance Hospital and Suga will establish the 'Min Yoongi Treatment Center', a specialized treatment center to support the treatment and social independence of patients with autism spectrum disorder. Suga donated a whopping 5 billion won for this purpose.

This news is drawing attention as it was announced just two days after he was discharged from his alternative service as a social service worker on the 21st. In particular, public opinion toward him was cold after he was caught driving an electric scooter while intoxicated last summer, but he surprised everyone by repeatedly expressing his apology and reflection along with his discharge, and by steadily preparing for this project.

According to Severance Hospital, even while promoting with BTS, Suga has consistently engaged in charity work and has taken an ongoing interest in mental health, psychological and behavioral issues, and especially depression in adolescents, and has sought ways to provide help through his talent and abilities in music.

Last November, Suga had a chance to communicate with Professor Chun Geun-ah of the Department of Pediatrics at Severance Hospital, an authority in the field of pediatric psychiatry, and expressed his intention to donate 5 billion won to Severance Hospital, agreeing with the need for customized treatment according to the life cycle and the need to establish a specialized treatment center to support mid- to long-term treatment.

Afterwards, Suga discussed with Professor Chun about establishing a treatment center and social skills training using music for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, and based on this, he developed the 'MIND' program, a social group program that grafted musical content onto existing social skills training programs. From March to June, Suga also participated in the development of the program by meeting actual children with autism spectrum disorder on weekends.

The donation that Suga made to Severance Hospital this time is the largest donation ever made by an artist, not only to Severance Children's Hospital but also to the entire Yonsei Medical Center.

Suga was classified as a social service worker in 2022 due to a shoulder injury from a past traffic accident, and continued his alternative service by reporting to work at the social service worker agency the following September. However, on August 6th of last year at around 11 PM, he was summarily indicted on charges of driving an electric scooter while intoxicated on a street in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and was summarily ordered to pay a fine of 15 million won.

Suga, who had been serving in alternative service and had spent the next 10 months quietly since the incident, greeted his fans on the 21st as he was discharged. He said, “I think I had time to think about myself for the past two years. In particular, I felt like I needed to take a step back and distance myself from the things I’ve been doing for a long time.” He continued, “I’ve been running forward without looking back at myself, but this time has given me the opportunity to look back on myself.”

 

A donation of 5 billion is truly a different scale.