Publishing group Minumsa's president dies at 83
By Yun Suh-young
Minumsa's president Park Maeng-ho died, Sunday. He was 83.
Park was the founder and CEO of Minumsa, one of Korea's most influential publishing groups over the past 50 years since its establishment in 1966.
The Minumsa Publishing Group is one of the largest and most influential general trade publishers in Korea. It has subsidiary publishing brands such as BIR, Minumin/Goldenbough, ScienceBooks, Banbi and the graphic imprint Semicolon.
Minumsa also published some of the finest foreign literary works, featuring writers such as J. D. Salinger, Jack Kerouac, Guenter Grass, Hermann Hesse, Jorge Luis Borges and Samuel Beckett to name a few.
Park was born in 1933 in Biryongso, North Chungcheong Province. The town later became the brand name of his subsidiary publishing company BIR which publishes books for children and adolescents.
Park entered the Liberal Arts College at Seoul National University in 1952 and majored in French literature. He won a prize the following year for his short story "Sunflower's Habit" at a literary competition. Having begun his career as a writer, Park then founded his own publishing company Minumsa in May, 1966. "Yoga," the first book published by Minumsa that year became an instant bestseller, selling over 15,000 copies.
Park contributed greatly to expanding the foundation of literature in society and to discovering talented writers. He was vice president of the Korean Publishers Association in 1989 and president of the Korea Book Publishers Association in 1985.
He received several awards from the government for his contribution to the publishing industry, including a prime minister's award in 1982 and a presidential award in 1985.
He is survived by his wife, daughter and two sons who are CEOs of his subsidiary publishing brands.