Kyobo Life CEO receives prestigious honor
By Lee Kyung-min
Kyobo Life founder Shin Yong-ho
Kyobo Life Insurance CEO Shin Chang-jae will receive the Order of Cultural Merit in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to raising the profile of Korean literature on the global stage and promoting reading here, the company said Wednesday.
The doctor-turned-CEO became the second recipient in his family of the highly prestigious award, after his late father, group founder Shin Yong-ho.
The Order of Cultural Merit is awarded by the president, and has five levels. It is bestowed upon those who have conducted “outstanding meritorious services in the fields of culture and art in the interest of promoting the national culture and development.”
His father won the merit at the Geumgwan (Gold Crown) level, the highest grade, in 1996, and the junior Eungwan (Silver Crown), the second-highest honor.
Given the award is usually given to prominent art and cultural figures, a business leader winning the honor is drawing commendation, attesting to his extensive contribution to fostering cultural enrichment through the continued promotion of reading and the development of literature.
Kyobo Life CEO Shin Chang-jae
The junior Shin, who worked as a medical professor at Seoul National University before heading the Daesan Foundation in 1993, is known for his firm belief in nurturing through education, and bringing literature closer to everyday life, values he learned from his late father.
Best known by the company motto “People make books and books make people,” Kyobo Book Center in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, is not only a landmark but a place where people can rest and dream.
Rather than treating visitors as customers, the senior Shin saw them as talented human beings with great potential.
The humanitarian and philanthropist values outlined in five company rules he established are upheld by the junior Shin to this day.
Workers are instructed to be kind to visitors and treat young children with the respect they would have toward adults.
They are not to interrupt visitors reading books for hours and treat them with just as much courtesy when they leave even if they have not bought anything.
Even people copying longhand or taking pictures of certain parts of the book are not asked to leave.
Workers are to give only verbal warnings to those caught stealing books instead of referring them to law enforcement.
The Daesan Foundation has nurtured scores of budding writers over the past decades through generous contributions for translations of Korean literature.
The foundation helped overseas publication of works of celebrated novelists Pak Kyong-ni and Hwang Sok-yong as well as 310 others.
The awards ceremony will be held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Oct. 24.