Kim Mandeok

Kim Man-deok (1739-1812) was a merchant of late Joseon who built her fortune in Jeju. When a severe famine struck the island, she spent her entire wealth to buy rice from the mainland and distributed it to the starving people, an act for which King Jeongjo honored her. In an age that sharply limited both her status and her sex, she made her name through commerce and then gave it away in relief, and she is still remembered in Jeju as the "righteous woman" Kim Man-deok.