Researcher Kang Jeong-hoon awarded the Republic of Korea Civil Servant Award 'Prime Minister's Commendation'

Prime Minister's Commendation Award Ceremony, Kang Jeong-hoon, Curator (left), Kim Hyun-mo, Administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration.

Kang Jeong-hoon, a curator at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage under the Cultural Heritage Administration (Administrator Kim Hyun-mo), received the Prime Minister's Commendation at the 7th Korea Civil Servant Awards.

Since 2006, Curator Kang Jeong-hoon has achieved outstanding research results through various efforts to preserve natural monuments (animals). He was the first to promote the publication of the "Natural Heritage Multimedia Braille Book" to enable visually impaired people to easily experience natural monuments and appreciate their value.

The "Natural Heritage Multimedia Braille Book," a representative case of proactive administration by the Cultural Heritage Administration, is a braille book that includes detailed illustrations depicting the appearance and sounds of a total of 70 animal species designated as natural monuments, along with voice explanations featuring related folk songs and children's songs. It is a natural heritage introduction book published for the second consecutive year by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage for visually impaired individuals who usually have limited access to natural monuments.

Since its first publication in 2020, one copy has been provided to 534 students at 13 schools for the visually impaired nationwide. In this year's edition, soccer player Son Heung-min personally participated in the narration of the "Golden Eagle" section, donating his voice talent. With sponsorship from private companies involved in the collaboration, AI voice synthesis technology was applied to produce narrations for the hawk, musk deer, and owl sections using the voice of actor Song Joong-ki, who volunteered his voice, receiving high acclaim.