Cho Won-tae, chairman of Hanjin Group, received a gold medal from Frank Riester, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, at the Korea Furniture Museum in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul on December 17.
At the event, Chairman Cho said, "It is a great honor to be awarded the French Medal of Merit for Foreign Affairs. I will take this as an encouragement to work harder for the development of bilateral relations between Korea and France."
The French Medal of Merit for Foreign Affairs is an honorary medal established in 2010 to express gratitude to those who have contributed to France and its people and is divided into three phases, gold, silver and bronze, according to their contributions.
The French government's award of the Order of Diplomatic Merit for Chairman Cho is based on the warm consideration Korean Air has shown to the French people.
In particular, Korean Air has not stopped serving as a bridge for French people in Korea to visit their homeland or return to Korea, even when most of the sky roads are blocked due to COVID-19.
Currently, Korean Air is putting direct flights three times a week on the Incheon-Paris route, despite a sharp drop in passenger demand in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemics.
Meanwhile, Chairman Cho directly boarded a chartered plane that was launched in January to transport Koreans living in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and nearby areas to Korea following the spread of COVID-19 this year.
