Kudos to My Old Friend

By Choe Chong-dae

I wish to take this opportunity to extend my sincere greetings and best wishes for a Happy New Year to all readers and staff members of The Korea Times. The Year of the Tiger, which symbolizes bravery and intelligence, marks the 60th anniversary of the foundation of The Korea Times.

As an ardent and enthusiastic subscriber and contributor to The Korea Times for several decades, reading the paper has been a significant part of my life to date, and will remain so for the rest of my life. The Korea Times has been my great teacher, associate and source of knowledge for me.

Whenever I exchange greetings with figures, including foreigners at various social gatherings, my first question to them is, ``Do you subscribe to The Korea Times?" If they reply that they read other English newspapers, I sincerely recommend that they change to The Korea Times in a bid to promote the paper.

I inherited a strong affection for the paper from my family, in particular, from my father, a pioneer of Korean archeology who had many international friends and associates. He formed a close relationship not only with The Korea Times but with its sister paper, the Hankook Ilbo, a Korean daily. For this reason, I am constantly moved by nostalgia when reading the paper, which covers a wide variety of topics in its editorials, and in articles on politics, the nation and the city, business, finance, culture and sports, to mention just a few areas of interest.

Looking back (and reflecting) on my life, I did not achieve the heights of wealth, honor and a successful career. Nevertheless, I do take pride in my collection of numerous pages of old and worn original Korea Times' issues which have published my columns over the years, in fact dating back to the last millennium!

A newspaper has great power. In fact, one line in a newspaper can have more effect than one hundred words spoken through another medium, proving that the pen is certainly mightier than the sword.

On April 7, 1896, the first local English newspaper, The Independent, was established by Dr. Suh Jae-pil, a founding member of the Independence Club. The Independent's English edition addressed political, economic, cultural, international and social issues in order to assist and to educate foreigners to better understand Korea and the issues it was facing at the time.

Initially, the paper was issued three times a week in tabloid form, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It subsequently became a daily, concurrently providing a Korean alphabet ``Hangeul" section under the flag of ``Tongnip Sinmumm." It enlightened the citizenry to the urgent need to eliminate corruption, expand modern education, solidify national sovereignty and promote civil rights.

In 1904, the Korean Daily News, published in English and Korean (the sister daily of Daehan Mail Shinbo), was founded by Ernest Thomas Bethell and Yang Ki-tak.

The Korea Times was established in 1950 (two years before I was born), and has not only survived as the longest running independent English daily, but has prospered and developed into the benchmark in Korea of English language journalism. The paper has been a mirror and a record of turbulent times in the contemporary history of Korea.

It is the most influential English-language newspaper in Korea and remains one of the key, dynamic players in Korea's internationalization. It plays a significant role in providing foreigners with credible information relating to business, finance, politics, culture and sources of news, and has thereby developed into Korea's bridge to the rest of the world.

The paper has successfully achieved its mission to provide essential information and insight into contemporary Korea for foreigners in Korea, and for people living abroad. It is not only a superb media source for the public, but is also a valuable resource for teachers and their students.

The Korea Times has served as a transparent window into Korea by focusing more on reader-friendly feature stories than cut and dry daily news reports. In doing so it has not neglected the fundamental role of a newspaper, which is to convey to readers as rapidly and as accurately as possible events that are occurring not only locally, but in every corner of the globe.

Needless to say, the existence of the media has become even more important now because of the great numbers of potential readers worldwide, as more and more people than ever can read in English.

Thus, The Korea Times is also a valuable asset as a living and practical English textbook with its fine collection of stimulating essays, which enhance a better understanding, and creative use of the English language, and it is a source, which can be accessed easily and inexpensively.

I encourage more and more Korean people, especially students, to read The Korea Times, which will enable them to have an increasingly proficient command of a global language and to raise their cross-cultural awareness. In summation, regular scrutiny of The Korean Times will assist a reader to not only become a better informed citizen of Korea, but a more mature and culturally aware citizen of the world.

The writer is the president of Dae-kwang International Co. and the Korean representative of Compagnie Cotonniere of Paris, as well as a long-time director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at dkic98@chol.com.