JOURNALISM

Since energetic former VP of The Korea Herald takes over Club

Year-end reunion of Herald retirees

marks record turnout

An estimated total of over 100 former and incumbent members of the Herald Corporation attended the reception, who, besides Chairman Yun Ik-han of the Herald 'Old Boys Club' (former executive vice president and editor-in-chief of The Korea Herald [KH]), included Advisor Choi Suh-young (former president of KH), Vice Chairman Min Byung-il (former managing editor of KH) and Auditor Lee Kyung-sik (former cultural editor of KH).

It was the largest-ever reunion meeting of the Herald Media. Attendance of the ‘Old Boys’ at the reunion has been continuously increasing since the takeover of the chairmanship by Yun in December 2012 and so has the frequency of the meetings. In addition to the year-end reunion, there have been a number of other meetings of the ‘Old Boys’ this year, including an expanded executive officers’ meeting and a mountain climbing.

Another distinction of the year- end reunion this year was the attendance of many incumbent editors, executives and managers of the Herald Corporation, which also favorably reflected on Yun, the new chairman, who was, by nature, an energetic man and won much praise from his superiors, co-workers and subordinates while in active duty at The Korea Herald.

For his outstanding achievements, Yun was decorated by the then President Park Chung-Hee with an Order of Civil Merit, Mongnyon Medal and the Presidential Citation.

Welcoming the former and incumbent members of the Herald Media, Chairman Yun said it was heart-warming that Chinjeong (mother’s home of a married daughter alluding to the Herald Media) was doing well making the ‘Old Boys’ feel proud of their Chinjeong. (See excerpts from the speech of Chairman Yun at the end of this Article.)

Yun’s welcome remarks were followed by a return speech by incumbent CEO-Publisher Lee Young-man of the Herald Corporation. Lee said that the media industry today was having a tough time due to increasing competition but that the Herald Media was doing well and was relatively better off as it ran a number of other businesses, including English-language education villages and ecology-related enterprises that it had acquired.

Lee said that he will do his utmost to support the Old Boys wherever he could, and asked for their continued support for their Chinjeong.

Then there were congratulatory remarks by former President Choi Suh-young of the English daily, The Korea Herald, who stressed the importance of English-language media.

Then he introduced an episode underlining the importance of the English-language media. The story was to the following effect:

When President Roh Tae-woo was in power (1988-1998), The Korea Herald celebrated an inauguration anniversary and one of the anniversary activities was to have an exclusive interview with the President of the Republic of Korea (by convention and not only with The Korea Herald but with all major dailies in Korea, for that matter).

Choi visited Cheong Wa Dae with the then Managing Editor Min Byung-il for the interview and met with Roh who made remarks which Choi still remembered vividly.

President Roh told Choi and Min: “The English-language media in Korea play a very important role in the promotion of the country to the outside world. To the English-speaking people around the world, Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo (two leading Korean-language dailies) meant nothing because they wouldn’t know what they were saying.”

Excerpts from the speech of Chairman Yuk Ik-han

of the Herald Old Boys’ Club:
Tonight, we are together here again. For many of us, the two newspapers of the Herald Media are where we have spent the most important part of our lives, if not our whole life. Earning a living there, there must have been times of joy and also of regrets and even some experiences when we had love lost among us and some of us might even have had hard feelings against one another.

However, after the passage of time, memory of such unfortunate encounters is no longer with us and what remains with us is nothing but fond memories of the times to which we were all bound by what now appears to be destiny. They make us all yearn for the good old days.

The experiences we had together are too dear for us to commit to oblivion. I am wondering if we cannot rehabilitate and embrace such experiences and explore the possibility of their use in the planning of our future that remains with us and perhaps if we cannot make our next reunion a more heart-sharing and productive one.

Even the blood-sharing brothers become as good as strangers if they are separated from one another for a long time. Our neighbors are much closer to us and more helpful than the real brothers and sisters.

Tonight, we are here together in the name of Year-end reunion to reminisce the times we had together and to wish well for one another in the days to come.

I am planning to increase the reunion meetings more frequently in addition to this annual Year-end get-together.

In fact, we already started it this year. We had the New Year luncheon with the executive members, expanded meeting of the board of directors and a climbing picnic, where we all had our fill of excitement and positive responses.

Above all, however, I would like to say that it is reassuring to see our Chinjeong (mother’s home alluding to Herald Media) has been doing really well like the reliable pillars of a building. A married woman will always yearn for her mother; likewise the ?ld Boys?(and ?irls? of the Herald Media yearn for their Chinjeong.

How reassuring the Herald Media is!

This is why we all wish that our Chinjeong will do well.

I would like to take this opportunity also to express our profound gratitude to the incumbent members of the Herald family who are devoted to the development and growth of our Chinjeong.
We the 'Old Boys and Girls,' on our part, should always try to see what we can do for the development and growth of the Herald Media. Offhand, we can think of each one of us becoming an active Public Relations Ambassador of the Herald Media.

Things are becoming increasingly complicated and difficult and in this situation we can realize how difficult the management of newspapers is. What is taking place on and around the Korean peninsula as well as in the Republic of Korea is posing great challenges to all of us. In the vortex of rapid changes in the past, we, the advanced guards of the society, did our utmost performing the role of the mass communications media properly and our active performances revive vividly and freshly in our mind. We are proud of all such experiences and feel that they are rewarding because we had them while we were a part of the Herald Media.

The valuable, rich and rare experiences we had together sometimes form a basis for us when we try to wisely forge through the difficult reality we face today.

The reason why the Herald Club of Old Boys and Girls should exist and do well is that we should develop our mutual relations into that of closer friends and ruminate on our valuable experiences we all had together and try to further develop the reunion into an occasion of a hearty laugh and fun.

Why don’t we all try to make our future reunions something we eagerly look forward to attending and make it a bridge of friendship for all of us. Hoping that we will all count the days eagerly looking forward to our next reunion, I will call this a welcome speech. k

저작권자 © The Korea Post 무단전재 및 재배포 금지