Former president-publisher of The Korea Times dies at 79

By Park Ji-won

Yoon Kook-byung, former president-publisher of The Korea Times / Korea Times file

Yoon Kook-byung, former president-publisher of The Korea Times, died of cancer Thursday. He was 79.

Born in 1941, he began his career in 1965 as a staff reporter for the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of the country's oldest English daily.

Yoon became the president-publisher of The Korea Times in April 2002 and served until March 8, 2004. He also served as the president-publisher of the Hankook Ilbo in 2002 from Aug. 30 to Dec. 31. He retired at The Korea Times.

He also served as the politics editor and the managing editor in the Hankook Ilbo. He also worked as the president-publisher of the Sonyeon Hankook Ilbo, a daily published for elementary-school readers from February 1998 to March 2002.

He was one of the survivors of the 1983 Rangoon bombing, where 16 Cabinet members and one journalist, as well as four Burmese citizens were killed by two North Korean bombers in a terrorist attack at the Martyr's Mausoleum of modern Myanmar's founder, Aung San.

He is survived by his wife and two children. Those who wish to pay their respects to the late president-publisher can visit Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul. The funeral runs until Saturday morning.