Denmark Ambassador to Korea Thomas Lehmann and some employees of Novo Nordisk made a surprise visit to Severance Children’s Hospital, to give presents to patients there on Thursday.

The social contribution activity, planned by the Embassy of Denmark, gave presents to the children who are going to spend Christmas this year at the hospital. The children received 150 “Octo Project” dolls, handcrafted by Novo Nordisk employees, and Lego toys.

Ambassador Lehmann and embassy staffs dressed up as Santa Claus to deliver the gifts to the children.

The embassy and Novo Nordisk donated 150 Octo Project dolls, also to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Severance Children's Hospital in September.

“I hope that we can continue to work on the Octo Project with Danish companies and deliver a message of warm hope to many children,” Ambassador Lehmann said.

The Octo Project, started in the North European country, is a program where volunteers donate octopus dolls to the newborns' ward to help the babies' psychological stability and sensory development in premature infants and those in incubators.

The project started when a Danish father, who had a premature daughter that had to go into the incubator as soon as she was born, ordered an octopus doll to hand-knitting professional bloggers for his daughter. After receiving the doll, the daughter surprisingly became stable and healthy, and the volunteers started to send their octopus dolls to the newborn wards in Denmark.