Lee Dae-hwan: Asia Publishers; 240 pp., 13,000 won
Who does not know POSCO and its founder the late Park Tae-joon, who passed away at the age of 84 on Dec. 13, 2011 due to pulmonary ailment?
This book comprised of a series of speeches he made and articles on the late “man of steel,” however, will still provide glimpses into his life and the man that he was, both in Korean and English.
Built against all the odds and partly from funds from Property Claims Against Japan (Or Indemnities for Japanese Colonial Rule), Park grew POSCO largely on his legacy of “patriotism by steel manufacturing” and “right face.”
The latter a military phrase that Park shouted to his men either to build a steel factory or just turn “right face” and march straight into the waters off Korea’s East Coast.
POSCO was ranked 30th in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World in 2012 by “Corporate Knights,” a Canadian economic magazine.
The book carries, among others, the address that he gave at a reunion between him and 390 retired founding workers in September 2011, he both thanked and apologized to them for their sacrifice. In it he reminds his former colleagues that “Life isn’t as short as not to grant those who conceived an ambitious goal its achievement.”
— KIM JI-SOO