First lady Kim Jung-sook (wearing a white dress) on Feb. 1 thanked the public in a video message for helping the so-called Love Thermometer Tower charity campaign achieve its target. The photo shows the presidential couple on Dec. 4, 2020, making a donation at a charity event hosted by Cheong Wa Dae. (Yonhap News)

By Xu Aiying and Yoon Sojung

First lady Kim Jung-sook on Feb. 1 thanked the public in a video message for helping the so-called Love Thermometer Tower charity event under the "Hope 2021 Sharing Campaign" achieve its target.

"These 100 degrees are a miracle that everyone has accomplished together in hard times," she said.

"The opposite of contact is not noncontact but turning away," she added. "Those of you who help your neighbors and share warmness to overcome winter are people who make spring, not wait for it."

The annual charity event is organized by the Community Chest of Korea (CCK). The thermometer rises a degree for every 1% increase in the target amount and displays 100 degrees once the goal is achieved.

The drive was conducted from Dec. 1 last year to Jan. 31 this year. Because KRW 400.9 billion was raised, the temperature's final reading was 114.5 degrees.

The first lady Kim, like her predecessors such as the late Lee Hee-ho (wife of President Kim Dae-jung), Kwon Yang-sook (Roh Moo-hyun) and Kim Yoon-ok (Lee Myung-bak), is an honorary chairperson of the CCK.

President Moon Jae-in and his wife on Dec. 4 last year made a donation at an invitational event for 14 charity organizations including the CCK hosted by at Cheong Wa Dae, thanking "hidden heroes" in society who practice sharing despite the difficult situation due to COVID-19.

xuaiy@korea.kr