Samsung Culture Foundation said on Oct. 26 that Hong Ra-hee (홍라희), honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art, received the Camellia Medal of the Order of Civil Merit. Hong will receive a government award following the Red Cross Humanitarian Award Gold Medal in 2024. The Order of Civil Merit is awarded by the government to people with clear contributions to improving public welfare and national development, and the Camellia Medal is the third grade among five grades.

In 2021, bereaved family members including Hong and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong donated jointly in the family name about 23,000 artworks owned by the late former chairman Lee Kun-hee to the state, including Inwangjesaekdo. A touring exhibition of the donation, known as the KH Collection, has been held since November 2025 under the auspices of the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago and the British Museum.

Hong and other bereaved family members returned 1 trillion won from the late former chairman Lee Kun-hee's estate to society through medical donations. Of that, 300 billion won was used to support children with cancer and pediatric patients with rare diseases, and the Lee Kun-hee Pediatric Cancer and Rare Diseases Support Project Group was launched with medical staff and researchers from major hospitals nationwide. The remaining 700 billion won was put into setting up an infectious disease response system, including building the National Center for Infectious Diseases and creating research and treatment infrastructure.

Cash donations are also continuing. Hong joined the Red Cross Honors Club, a group of high-value donors with cumulative donations of at least 100 million won, as its third founding member in 2016, and was inducted into the Red Cross Honors 1 Billion Won Club in 2025. She donated 1 billion won to the Youth Happiness Foundation and 355 million won to the Yongsan Welfare Foundation, and has continued donations for preserving cultural heritage of religious groups such as Buddhism, Won Buddhism and Catholicism and for supporting vulnerable groups.

Separately, Hong previously gifted her Samsung Electronics stake to her son, Lee Jae-yong. Lee disclosed on the 13th that he would receive 11,158,000 common shares from his mother. After the gift is completed, Lee's stake will rise to 1.75 percent from 1.58 percent, while Hong's stake will fall to 0.81 percent from 0.98 percent.