By Kang Hyun-kyung
“Inspiring, heart-warming.”
Bang Gui-hee, the publisher of the quarterly Sotdae Literature for disabled writers, said she feels touched whenever she passes the Kyobo Life building near Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul.
There’s a giant bulletin board set up above the front door of the building. The 20x8 meter board has quotes from poems or other literary works written by renowned authors. The same excerpts are there for one season and are replaced with new ones when a new season arrives.
“It almost became a ritual for me to check those quotes,” she said. “Whenever I visit places near the square, I read them again and again because those quotes are so inspiring. I think there must be a group of people overseeing the selection of the phrases and quotes from tons of literary works to find a timely message for the public.”
Bang, however, regrets the beautiful quotes always turn out to be vacant messages as society has not matured and greed still dominates it. “I wonder when our society will be a mature one as those quotes hoping for,” she said.
The board has been there for 26 years as part of the insurance company’s corporate social responsibility strategy. Hanging the giant quotes to inspire the public was the brainchild of the late founder of Kyobo Life Shin Yong-ho (1917-2003), who is credited as a trailblazer in the field of insurance.
The building has become an iconic venue for visitors, owing to the nation’s largest bookstore Kyobo Book Center located in the basement of the building. The book store attracts around 40,000 visitors per day.
Selectively chosen, timely quotes and phrases from 84 literary works have since encouraged passersby to take a moment to look at their stressful urban lives. They sometimes heal wounded souls by encouraging them to look at problems or ordeals they face in a different way.
In its early days, the messages there were educational. The first message hung on the bulletin board in January 1991 came from the epigram_ “Join Us to Revive the Economy.”
Then a drastic change came in 1998 when the nation was hit hard by the Asian Financial Crisis. Following the Korean government’s borrowing emergency relief funds from the International Monetary Fund, a flexible labor market policy resulted in massive layoffs, unemployment and job insecurity. Heart-warming quotes that could touch a wounded soul were chosen against such a gloomy economic backdrop.
Poet Koh Un’s “A Strange Place” heralded the shifting message. It encouraged those who were in despair or lost their sense of direction to break from their comfort zone to try something new or to create something productive. “Explore off the beaten track. You, the young soul, go for adventures, not sticking with your boring daily routine.”
Lee Myoung-chun, a professor of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at ChungAng University in Seoul, said the board was reborn as a public asset from the private company’s CSR tool, while going through the financial crisis. “Outdoor advertisements mirror how the society has changed,” he said. “The financial crisis came as a shock to Koreans and dealt a blow to their lives. The public endured unspeakable pain and ordeals while going through tough economic times as restructuring went on for years. The message board reflected the public’s struggles. ”
In 2010, Lee led a research project about the outdoor advertisement project. As an outdoor advertisement tool, he said the bulletin has unique value because it focuses on healing wounds, instead of promoting the company’s products.
Oh Yoon-sung, a professor of Sun Chun Hyang University, said the giant board has become a literary sensation among some citizens, maybe because of the quotes.
“If the quotes had any political message, I think they wouldn’t be as influential as they are now,” he said. “Political messages in general are poised to divide society, as opposed to unify it, because people having different_ sometimes opposing_ political orientations. Thus if the messages had some political content, the board could have become an object of criticism for polarizing society.”
Oh went on to say the board also benefits from its high-profile neighborhood. “As you know, Gwanghwamun Square has become the venue for the public to take collective action and to freely express their desire for joy or change,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of people gathered there and were united to chant for Korea during the 2002 World Cup, and this was televised around the world. The square also has become the holy place for direct democracy as we saw during the campaign to topple former President Park Geun-hye.”
He indicated such a well-known neighborhood helped the board garner more attention.