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On April 6, 2025, Sean, a philanthropist, shared a vlog featuring Park Bo-gum from When Life Gives You Tangerines at the grand opening of South Korea's first nursing hospital for Lou Gehrig's Disease. Sean's wife, Jung Hye-young, along with actress Lee Si-woo, Lim Se-mi, Jin Sun-kyu, and his running crew, were also there to celebrate.
This was a considerable event for health and charity initiatives in South Korea. The nursing hospital for patients with ALS is the result of Sean's 14 years of dedication to the mission through the Seungil Hope Foundation.
Sean’s dedication to building a care center for ALS patients started after meeting Park Seung-il, a former basketball player who has been living with ALS since 2002. In 2011, they co-founded the organization with the goal of helping patients with ALS through the needs they saw as appropriate.
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Park Seung-il and Sean's 14-year-long dream opens its door for Lou Gehrig's Disease patients in South Korea
This hospital is a realization of Park Seung-il's dream, as he directly advocated for ALS patients throughout his life, while also living with the disease himself. Sadly, he passed away on February 25, 2025, prior to seeing the effort he started to support ALS patients come to fruition.
While he was alive, Park Seung-il had established advocacy for ALS patients across the nation of South Korea, and many famous South Korean celebrities attended the opening ceremony, expressing their support for the cause of ALS.
Over the years, Sean was involved with many fundraising initiatives, such as introducing the Ice Bucket Challenge to South Korea in 2014. The campaign quickly went viral online and created awareness of the cause while raising a significant amount of money.
With both financial support and raised public consciousness about ALS and the difficulties that come along with it from numerous figures such as Park Bo-gum, IU, Kwon Nara, Lee Joo-young, THE BOYZ's Q, and Im Si-wan, the ALS Nursing Hospital initiative was a resounding success.
BTS members Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung are among the list of celebrities who donated to the hospital. There is a wall inside the hospital that has the names of all the people who donated to make Sean and the late Park Seung-il's dreams come true.
Because of Sean's diligent work, he was able to spearhead efforts that would personally contribute around 5.7 billion KRW (estimated $3.91 million) towards building the hospital.
The hospital's design is built around fully considering the obstacles patients with ALS must face to be comfortable including elements of both the design and medical elements of the hospital itself.
Park Bo-gum, who has volunteered his time and engaged in the charity linked to ALS patients, was also invited, as he supported the event as a private philanthropist. Park Bo-gum had run a marathon in 2019 called the Miracle 365 Relay Run with Sean, to support the cause and raise funds for the hospital.
Additionally, in 2023, Park Bo-gum took part in the revived Ice Bucket Challenge, further demonstrating his dedication to supporting ALS patients and the foundation's mission.
The recently opened Lou Gehrig's Disease Nursing Hospital is situated in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. It is outfitted to deliver comprehensive services that are tailored to the characteristics of patients with ALS.
There are spacious rooms with large windows to allow for natural light, and a spacious treatment room as well. The facility features doorways that are threshold-free to allow patients with easy accessibility, and also features large gardens designed to be accessible to bedridden patients.
The unprecedented achievement of the first ALS nursing hospital to open in South Korea is a vivid testimony of the good that collective philanthropy can achieve. Sean's ability to galvanize both the public and celebrity figures sets a standard for future charitable initiatives in South Korea.
The hospital is now operational for ALS patients and their families, offering specialized care and support previously unavailable in South Korea. The Seungil Hope Foundation continues to advocate for ALS awareness and research, aiming to further improve the lives of patients nationwide.
