Inventor's unwavering passion for perfect nasal device

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Self-made businessman Joung Jin-gu, 64, once had a thriving business that produced garments and daily household products for the U.S. market. During its peak days in the 1980s and ‘90s, his company Samjoung International had over 3,000 employees in overseas factories in 33 countries across Asia and Latin America, and posted an annual sales income of $50 million. Some of his innovative products, such as hangers and foldable laundry baskets, were a hit in the U.S. market, helping him become a corporate leader of a small but strong company.

In 2002, his life took an unusual turn, from owner and founder of the profitable business into an unstoppable inventor who has invested all his fortune to develop a nasal product for asthma patients.

His sickness was a turning point. In 1999, he was hospitalized for shortness of breath during a business trip to Guatemala where he operated a textile manufacturing factory. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in the local hospital there, which later turned out to be a medical error. He returned to Korea for treatment. After a thorough medical checkup at ASAN Medical Center in southern Seoul, he was diagnosed with asthma and acute respiratory disease which were so severe that he was unable to walk 100 meters without panting and wheezing.

Joung realized at that time that breathing freely is a blessing. As he recovered from the acute respiratory disease, he shifted his focus to developing devices to help asthma patients like him.

He has since invested his entire wealth accumulated over the decades for a small device ― an N95 nose filter designed to filter toxic particles and viruses that can cause pneumonia to help patients of respiratory diseases breathe in fresh air.

In the face of financial pressures caused by massive early investments, he sold his luxury apartment in southern Seoul and his land in Boeun County, North Chungcheong Province, to finance the project.

His years of investment in the unprofitable business put himself at odds with some of his adult children. While his daughter and son-in-law showed their unwavering support, his two sons voiced concern about their father who they thought “wasted” all his wealth without preparing for his life after retirement. But their worries didn’t stop Joung from exploring the innovative nose filter project which he considers a life mission to fulfill.

Businessman-turned-inventor Joung Jin-gu, left, and his doctor Nam Soon-yuhl at Asan Medical Center in Seoul last Monday / Korea Times file

His years of endeavor bore fruit. In 2007, he released the award-winning nose filter NOSK and the breakthrough product made him an internationally recognized inventor.

The nose filter was chosen as one of the most innovative products in the world’s three largest trade fairs for inventors ― the Innovation and New Product Exposition (INPEX) in Pittsburg, the international trade fair for “Ideas- Inventions- New Products” (iENA) in Nuremberg and the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. At INPEX 2007, it won Best Invention of the Far East, a gold medal in the environmental field and a bronze medal in the health and fitness field.

Joung’s nose filter also won the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards’ New Excellent Product (NEP) certification, a label awarded to inventors.

Following its recognitions at home and abroad, he has received calls from many multinational companies and local pharmaceutical firms to forge business partnerships to co-produce the device for sale.

However, Joung rejected their requests. “I feel that NOSK still is not perfect and it needs to be upgraded further,” he said. “I want a perfect device that can impress my consumers and my investment will be continued.”

Once the nose filter is perfected and becomes a market success, he said he’d like to create an incubator for inventors who have new ideas but no money to monetize their ideas.

Joung said he owes his doctor Nam Soon-yuhl for the successful release of the nose filter. He said Nam, a professor and chairman of the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery and laryngology of ASAN Medical Center, has offered his unconditional support for the past decade.

“Dr. Nam’s advice was critical to move my project forward when I was stuck in the middle of trial and error,” he said.

Since inventor Joung Jin-gu released the nose filter NOSK in 2007, the award-winning product has been upgraded. The device was chosen as one of the most innovative products in the world’s three largest trade fair for inventions and new products. From right shows the developments of the nose filter from the earliest to the latest version. / Korea Times file

After starting work on the development of the nose filter in November 2002, Joung said he wasted four years without progress. He had changed molds over 30 times to make the filter comfortable. Some of them were unbearable and some made those who tried the device feel sore.

After realizing his limited knowledge of the nose was the source of his repeated failures, he went to Dr. Nam to ask if he could lend his nasal expertise, a request the doctor accepted after a while.

Nam gave his patient one-on-one lectures on the human nose with feedback on Joung’s product. The doctor told him there should not be a one-size-fits-all type of nose filter because human noses are different from person to person. But their naval cavities are similar, so he advised Joung to develop a nose filter that can fit the naval cavity. His advice helped Joung solve the Gordian knot that vexed him for four years. The release of NOSK followed a year after he received the professional advice from the doctor.

Nam’s talent donation has since continued.

In 2009, the doctor gave a presentation about the nose filter on behalf of Joung to experts from the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards to help his friend earn NEC certification. Before this, Joung unsuccessfully applied for the certification twice. Joung, an elementary school graduate and an engineer by training, was unable to answer professional questions from the experts. Thanks to Nam, Joung passed the test and won the certification for his product.

Nam calls Joung “Korea’s Don Quixote” for his “innocent investment.” According to him, he initially thought his patient was annoying and he was skeptical about the nose filter project because he thought the chances for its development was bleak.

“I thought my patient kept investing money in an unfeasible project. I knew his blind investment came at the expense of his family members’ living standards and his ties with his sons,” Nam said. “But he never gave that up which won me over.”

Nam said Joung is a man of curiosity who always thinks about how to fix small inconveniences in people’s lives and tries to develop his innovative ideas into products.

“He was born like that, but for some reason he happened to be a businessman seeking profits,” Nam said. “As his business had gone well and he made a fortune, he seems to have followed his inner voice and invested his wealth to fix inconveniences.”

Invention is in his genes, the doctor said of his friend.