Kyobo Life Insurance chairman Shin Chang-jae vowed to donate 2 billion won ($1.7 million) out of his own pocket to a government-led youth job fund, the company said on Monday.

Shin’s donation comes after 1,824 Kyobo Life Insurance officials collected about 200 million won for the Youth Hope Fund. 

“The officials joined hands to help the young job seekers, the future of this nation, to overcome the difficult times and grow as proud constituents of our society,” Kyobo Life Insurance said in a press release.

“The company has taken pride in establishing Kyobo Book Center which is beloved by aspiring young intellectuals, and creating education-related insurance products that cast seeds of hope among students. Likewise, we hope the youngsters will benefit from the Youth Hope Fund in paving the way to their future.”

The Youth Hope Fund, launched in September by the Park Geun-hye administration, aims at curbing youth unemployment through providing high-quality jobs, increased job opportunities at home and overseas. So far, about 92,000 donors from all economic brackets have contributed a total of 94.3 billion won to the public fund.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)