Booyoung CEO donates history book

Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun, left, poses with Shim Yoon-chong, chairman of the Korea Saemaul Undong Center, at the Bankers’ Club in downtown Seoul, Wednesday, after signing an agreement to donate 1 million copies of a history book titled “The Korean War 1,129 Days” to the center. Lee authored the book detailing major events during the 1950-53 Korean War. / Courtesy of Booyoung Gro

By Lee Hyo-sik

Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun has donated 1 million copies of the history book “The Korean War 1,129 Days,” published in 2013, to the Korea Saemaul Undong Center (KSUC), the group said Thursday.

The Korea Saemaul Undong Center promotes the “Saemaul Movement,” an agricultural and rural reform campaign that began in the early 1970s.

During a ceremony on Wednesday, Lee signed an agreement with KSUC Chairman Shim Yoon-chong to donate the book to the organization. The Booyoung chairman also pledged to support the center’s various community improvement projects at home and abroad.

KSUC plans to use the book as a history text for its two million members.

“I really hope that the book can help KSUC members better understand the Korean War, one of the most tragic events in Korea’s modern history,” Lee said. “After they learn about the war more precisely, they can share it with others and help the whole Korean society form a correct view of the nation’s history.

In December last year, Lee also published two versions of another history book, detailing what happened on the Korean Peninsula from Aug. 15, 1945, through June 24, 1950, a day before the Korean War broke out.

The chairman rolled out the versions, both titled “Liberation 1,775 Days,” to help inform young people of exactly what happened during the most turbulent period of modern Korea and help them form a correct historical view, according to company officials.

“Lee decided to publish the book to help the younger generations grasp the history of modern Korea,” a company spokesman said. “His book is helpful for those who do not know much about what happened during the days after liberation from Japanese colonial rule until the Korean War. The book lets people know about their heritage and what their forefathers experienced.”

The book chronicles the National Liberation Day, Japan’s surrender, the establishment of a U.S. military government, the first general election in Korea and other crucial historical events during the five-year period.