CJ Chairman wins Van Fleet award

CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik speaks after receiving the Van Fleet award from the Korea Society at the Plaza Hotel in New York, Friday (local time). / Courtesy of CJ Group

By Nam Hyun-woo

CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik has won the Van Fleet award in recognition of his contribution to promoting Korean culture and Korea-U.S. relations.

According to the group, Thursday, Sohn was awarded the honor during the annual meeting of the Korea Society, a non-profit organization dedicate to better understanding and cooperation between Korea and the United States.

The organization has been giving the award to people who have contributed to improving relations between the two countries since 1992. Previous honorees include former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, former Korean President Kim Dae-jung, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee and SK Chairman Chey Tae-won.

Sohn was recognized for introducing and spreading Korean culture to the U.S., as well as serving a role in bridging businesses of the two countries as a former chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“CJ will play a trailblazing role in spreading Korean culture and lifestyle across the world and further enhance its contribution in improving Korea-U.S. relations,” Sohn said during the awards ceremony at the Lotte Plaza Hotel in New York.

Sohn cited CJ's KCON culture fair as a model for introducing Korean culture to the U.S.

“CJ has been holding KCON in Los Angeles, New York and major cities across the world since 2012,” he said. “Though the first KCON in the U.S. only had 12,000 visitors, it grew to 144,000 this year, which is a great pleasure for CJ in distributing Korean culture through the festival.”

The first KCON was held in Irvine, California, and quickly grew as an integrated Korean culture festival featuring pop music, TV dramas, movies, fashion, food and beauty products. The combined attendance of this year's KCON in Los Angeles and New York surpassed 147,000, according to KCON USA.

“As a lifestyle and culture company, CJ will spare no efforts to provide innovative and fulfilling lifestyles for consumers across the world,” Sohn said.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Bloomberg, Sohn said that during the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang he saw that North Koreans want to enjoy economic cooperation with South Korea, but businessmen from the South have not made any commitments so far.