**’Book Day’ Ceremony Honors 29 Publishing Contributors with Government Awards**
At the ‘Book Day’ ceremony, Kwon Jong-taek, CEO of Borim Publishing Co., was awarded the Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit for his contributions to the development of publishing culture.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism granted government awards to individuals who have greatly contributed to the publishing culture in celebration of the 39th ‘Book Day’. Kim Young-soo, the First Vice Minister of the Ministry, attended the ceremony organized by the Korean Publishers Association at the Korea Press Center on the 13th to present the awards and encourage those in the publishing industry.
This year’s award recipients include one Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit, two Presidential Citations, two Prime Minister’s Citations, and 24 Minister of Culture Awards, totaling 29 recipients.
Kwon Jong-taek, who receives the Order of Cultural Merit, founded Borim Publishing in 1976. During the 1970s, when the picture book market was not yet established in Korea, he played a significant role in laying the groundwork for the single-volume picture book market by planning and publishing excellent Korean creative picture books and foreign picture books. He also contributed to the expansion of the age range and scope of picture books through the publication of children’s humanities and arts books and the establishment of children’s music albums and puppet theaters.
Posthumous recipient Hong Seok, former CEO of Pulbit Publishing, who receives a Presidential Citation, contributed to the development of social science publishing in Korea by publishing humanities and social science books that met social and academic needs from the early 1980s and expanded this to literature and children’s and youth fields, publishing over 2,500 kinds of books. Han Bong-sook, CEO of Green Thought Publishing, has published over 2,160 kinds of paper books and 1,200 kinds of e-books in fields including academia, literature, general interest, children, and youth since 1985 and contributed to discovering writers and supporting writing activities by launching the quarterly ‘Green Thought’ and establishing a new literary award.
Hwang Min-ho, CEO of Daewon C.I., who receives a Prime Minister’s Citation, has launched numerous comic magazines such as ‘Boy Champ’ and ‘Young Champ’ over 35 years, publishing about 10,000 comic books and laying the foundation for the ‘K-webtoon’ market. By linking comics with games, dramas, and character industries, he diversified the comic business. Kim Tae-woong, CEO of Dongyang Books, founded Dongyang Books in 1993, developing and distributing over 3,000 kinds of foreign language learning materials, children’s books, and general interest books.
Additionally, for contributions to the development of the publishing culture industry through quality book publishing and distribution and market pioneering, 24 individuals, including Kim Eun-kyung, adjunct professor at Shingu University, and Jo Eun-hee, CEO of Hansol Soobook, receive Minister of Culture Awards.
Vice Minister Kim stated, “Books are the foundation of our culture and assets that must be handled with care.” He added, “The Ministry will provide tailored support to expand the export of ‘K-books’ and publishing intellectual property (IP), and invigorate the publishing ecosystem and everyone’s lives through the spread of reading culture.”