81-year-old Recognized As Fastest Reciter
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
An 81-year-old man has been given official recognition as the nation's fastest reciter of Chinese characters.
Oh Oak-geun set a record by reciting a total of 3,077 Chinese characters in nine minutes and 35 seconds.
Korea Record Institute (KRI) officially recognized the time as the nation's best record on Tuesday. This is the first time such a record has been recognized in Korea.
The reciting event, organized by KRI, was held on Oct. 2 in Seoul.
Having recited Chinese characters for 10 years, Oh said, ``on the radio I heard an anecdote of a Chinese person who could speak English fluently. The secret behind his fluency was reciting English articles as quickly and articulately as he could. I initially started doing this with the hope of improving my memory.''
The retired public servant decided to set a new record considering his experience in reciting and writing Chinese characters.
``Reciting gave me self-confidence and sense of satisfaction. I would like to be challenged in another field,'' Oh said, noting his improved memory and health since he started reciting.
The text he recited comes from 12 archaic books written in Chinese.
Born in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, he served as a public officer for 40 years. Since retiring, he has worked as an advisor at the Korea Painting and Drawing Association and Sung Kyun Kwan, an institute teaching Confucianism.