By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The head of one of the largest newspaper groups in Central America said Thursday he hopes to learn firsthand about Korea's ``miraculous growth'' and share his observations back home.
Enrique Altamirano, 77, president of El Salvador's Group Altamirano Madriz, is on a whirlwind tour of Korea to meet with journalists and academics.
``I had the pleasure of meeting with various Korean newspaper editors. I will also go to see a newspaper printing plant here in Korea,'' Altamirano told The Korea Times during his visit to paper's head office in Seoul.
The Central American media empire publishes ``El Diario de Hoy,'' a conservative-leaning daily newspaper with one of the largest circulations in the country. The combined daily readership for his group's publications is some 130,000.
The media group also operates Albacrome, the largest commercial printing plant of its kind in Central America and the Caribbean.
When asked about his philosophy and guiding principles for publishing newspapers, Altamirano said, ``Our papers try to promote principles for a free society and strong moral values. We try to keep the public debate in our society as rational as possible.
``And we go after corruption and mismanagement, and business and government practices that hurt our natural environment. We try to accomplish these goals one step at a time. We try to be a positive influence.''
He added that while journalists in El Salvador now have freedom of the press, he certainly doesn't take it for granted. ``My father (who ran the newspaper business) was once exiled when he went after corruption in the country,'' he noted.
``Our newspaper group is now the largest in El Salvador. And we have a very good advertising profit. Our group newspapers are conservative politically and we are very influential in our country,'' said Altamirano.
He said, ``We are interested in seeing how Korea achieved this miraculous growth and prosperity. I want to learn more about it so that I can write about it for our readers.''
Altamirano is visiting Korea at the invitation of the Korea Foundation, a group that aims to enhance Korea's image overseas through the promotion of academic and cultural exchange programs. The foundation, established in 1991, is an affiliate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.