Rho's lifetime love for paper

Rho Young-hye, chairwoman of the Korea Paper Culture Foundation (KPCP)

By Lee Kyung-min

Jongi jeopgi, or paper folding, is more than a passion for Rho Young-hye, 66, chairwoman of the Korea Paper Culture Foundation (KPCP). It is a life mission.

Having been CEO of Jonginara, a stationery company that opened in 1972, she says she cannot separate paper from her life.

She decided to spread the Korean words, jongi jeopgi, because most people around the world are more familiar with the Japanese origami.

Established in 2003, KPCF now has 37 regional offices across 16 countries.

“Thirteen elementary school teachers now have a license to teach jongi jeopgi,” she says. “We encourage teachers to learn it first, and then share the fun with their students, not only in the U.S., but also in Germany and the Philippines.”

She hopes having a yearly event on Nov. 11, under the name “Paper Day,” will help foreigners become more familiar with jongi jeopgi.

The event aims to have as many people as possible participate in the actual folding.

With this annual activity she believes jongi jeopgi can gain as much global recognition as taekwondo, a Korean martial art.

“Taekwondo was selected, over Japanese karate, as one of the official Olympic sports,” she says. “That is why using the words jongi jeopgi, instead of using translated English words, is important.”

However, she says that not unlike the taekwondo-karate case, long-running tensions between Korea and Japan over the papercraft’s origins will still be difficult to break.

“It’s like Dokdo. Japan always takes an issue with it when we stress the unique ‘Koreanness’ of it,” she says. “But it’s our fight to win. Or at least we should try.

“The Japanese claim they established the Origami Association earlier than us. Making something official doesn’t necessarily mean they have a longer history of it. The KPCF is researching evidence to show that the Korean jongi jeopgi preceded Japanese origami.”

Her love for paper stems from her respect for traditional values, and she says the “digital” era, where paper is not used as much as in earlier days, saddens her.

“Our forefathers used paper to write on, to take tests,” she says. “They even used it to block the piercingly cold winter air by gluing paper to the back of the window.

“Now that people use paper less and less, somehow I feel sad. But that doesn’t mean that my love for paper will fade away.”