Kyobo Life to hold events to commemorate founder
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Kyobo Life Insurance founder Shin Yong-ho, right, laughs during a meeting with global insurance leaders during the 23rd International Insurance Society annual meeting in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, in July, 1987. / Courtesy of Kyobo Life Insurance
By Nam Hyun-woo
Kyobo Life Insurance founder Shin Yong-ho
Kyobo Life Insurance said Wednesday it will hold various events this month to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its founder Shin Yong-ho.
According to the insurer, it will hold a commemorative concert at Lotte Concert Hall in Jamsil, Seoul, today.
Also on Sept. 14, an academic symposium shedding light on Shin’s education philosophy will take place, followed by a photo exhibition of Shin at the firm’s headquarters in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, on Sept. 28.
Born in 1917 in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, Shin is renowned as one of the trailblazers of insurance in and outside of Korea.
Due to being sickly as a child, Shin could not even receive elementary-level education, which prompted his lifetime dream of gaining an education and developing education insurance.
Based on his business experiences in Manchuria, Dalian and Beijing during the Japanese colonial rule, he established Daehan Education Insurance, now Kyobo Life, in 1958.
The company’s main policy was education insurance, aimed at assisting parents to set up their children’s tuition for higher education. According to the Seoul-based company, the policy helped finance tuition for 3 million students in three decades after its release.
Also, the company introduced retirement insurance and cancer insurance for the first time in Korea and became the largest insurer in the country in 1967.
Acknowledged by his feats, Shin became the first Korean winner of the Founder’s Award from the International Insurance Society in 1983. Also in 1996, he was inducted at the Insurance Hall of Fame.
Along with the insurance businesses, Shin expressed his passion for promoting education by founding Kyobo Bookstore in 1981 at the company’s main office building.
At the time, it boasted 600,000 books and the longest bookcase in the world. After a 1991 renovation, the store became the largest single-story bookstore in the world.
Until he died in 2003 age 89, he kept to his motto of “I learn while working and work while learning” and strived to promote education in Korea, a Kyobo Life official said.
Now, Kyobo Life, led by Shin’s eldest son Shin Chang-jae, is standing as an insurance titan in Korea, with assets surpassing 100 trillion won this year.