SM Entertainment Donates $28,500 To Help Young Adults Leaving Institutional Care

SM Entertainment recently revealed that it had donated the proceeds earned by the track "Dancing King" featuring EXO and Yoo Jae-Suk to help aid young adults become self-supportive.

"Dancing King" is a collaboration track released by K-pop boy band EXO and popular South Korean comedian Yoo Jae-Suk for the variety show "Infinite Challenge." The song was released as a part of SM Station, a digital music project, on Sept. 17, 2016.

On March 17, SM donated approximately $28,500 (32,000,000 South Korean won) earned from the proceeds to The Beautiful Foundation, a non-profit organization, in order to help young adults leaving institutional care to become self-sustainable.

The entertainment agency has been utilizing the net proceeds from the song for meaningful causes since 2017. It had previously donated approximately $219,900 (247,000,000 won) to support projects providing music education for children and adolescents, and help adolescents on the streets, according to Soompi.

SM also revealed its plans to continue working with The Beautiful Foundation for a campaign titled "18-Year-Old Adult" which aims to raise awareness about adolescents who have been discharged from institutional care. The artists under SM Entertainment will also be using their talents to support the campaign.

The CEO of SM Entertainment, Tak Young-Joon, talked about collaborating with the non-profit organization during the donation ceremony.

"All young adults, including those who are leaving institutional care, are the stars who shine a light on our society’s future. We will work hard to improve awareness about these young adults and to make sure that more people continue to take interest in realistic ways to help them stand on their own feet," he said, as per the local media.

On the other hand, SM Entertainment also launched its own social service brand named "SMile" in 2014 in partnership with other non-profit organizations and funds. SMile allows SM artists to make contributions and also donate their services to help provide cultural and educational aid to the needy, Allkpop reported.

SM Entertainment is one of the biggest entertainment agencies in South Korea and manages artists like EXO, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, Red Velvet, NCT, Aespa, and more.