Gyeongsang National University Holds 'Certificate of Donation Ceremony for Namseong Cultural Foundation Property'

Donation of Assets to University Development Fund Following Foundation Dissolution

Kim Jang-ha, Chairman of the Male Culture Foundation.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Gyeongsang National University will hold the ‘Certificate of Property Donation Ceremony from Namseong Cultural Foundation’ at 5 p.m. on the 9th in the multipurpose hall on the 3rd floor of the GNU Convention Center at the Gajwa Campus.

This event was organized to honor the noble intentions of Chairman Kim Jang-ha as the Namseong Cultural Foundation, a representative nonprofit public interest foundation in the Jinju area, dissolved and entrusted its assets to the Gyeongsang National University Development Fund, and to express the gratitude of the university members.

About ten people will attend the event, including Kwon Soon-gi, President of Gyeongsang National University; Kim Jang-ha, Chairman of Namseong Cultural Foundation; Directors Jeong Byeong-hoon and Kim Jung-seop; and Deputy Secretary Moon Eun-jin.

The event will proceed for about an hour in the order of introducing Chairman Kim Jang-ha’s career, delivering the certificate of contribution, presenting the certificate of donation and appreciation plaque, followed by the unveiling ceremony of the Hall of Fame.

Established in 2000, the Namseong Cultural Foundation has contributed to the education and cultural development of the local community, striving for cultural promotion in the Gyeongnam region including Jinju through projects such as publishing local cultural books, scholarship programs, and supporting the Jinju Autumn Literary Festival.

On September 6, 2021, the foundation’s board resolved to dissolve and designated the foundation’s principal assets?650 million KRW in cash and 20,000 shares of Seogyeong Broadcasting totaling approximately 2.8 billion KRW in market value?to the Gyeongsang National University Development Fund Foundation.

The fund is expected to be used for academic research in the Gyeongnam region including Jinju and for jointly promoting cultural development projects with the local community.

Since 1995, the Namseong Cultural Foundation has supported the operating fund of the ‘Jinju Autumn Literary Festival,’ which was previously run by the old Jinju Newspaper. The Jinju Autumn Literary Festival Steering Committee announced at the 27th awards ceremony held on December 4 that the festival will be discontinued.

Gyeongsang National University will preserve the name to continue Chairman Kim Jang-ha’s legacy and form the ‘Namseong Cultural Business Committee,’ involving the existing board members of the foundation, to jointly operate the donated assets and promote the foundation’s projects.

Additionally, the university will continue to pursue academic and research projects related to Jinju studies, including the foundation’s major project of publishing ‘Finding Jinju Culture.’

Kwon Soon-gi, Chairman of the Gyeongsang National University Development Fund Foundation, said, “We promise to cherish and use the fund in a way that continues the founding purpose of the Namseong Cultural Foundation and will strive to carry on the projects and events that the foundation has promoted.”

Chairman Kim Jang-ha was born in January 1944 in Jeongdong-myeon, Sacheon City, and obtained a Korean herbal medicine merchant license in 1962. He completed the top executive course at the Graduate School of Business Administration of Gyeongsang National University in 1997 and received an honorary doctorate in literature from Gyeongsang National University in October 2008. He converted Myeongshin High School, established by the Namseong Hak-suk School Foundation in 1984, into a public school in 1991.

He was a founding shareholder and director of the ‘Jinju Newspaper,’ launched in 1990 by Jinju citizens, and led the formation of the Equality Movement Memorial Association in 1992, serving as its president until 2004.

He has greatly contributed to the local community and the development of Gyeongsang National University by serving as president of the Gyeongnam Korean Medicine Association (1998-2011), chairman of the Nammyunghak Research Support Association at Gyeongsang National University (1992-1996), chairman of the Gyeongsang National University Development Support Association (1996-2001), chairman of the Nammyunghak Hall Construction Promotion Committee at Gyeongsang National University (1997-2003), vice president of the Jinju Culture Love Association, co-representative (standing chair) of the Jirisan Life Solidarity, chairman of the Jinju Ogwangdae Preservation Society Support Association, Yeongnam representative of the National Action to Save Jirisan, advisor to the Jinju Environmental Movement Federation, and director of the Jinju Cultural Research Institute. He was awarded the Moran Medal of the Order of Civil Merit in April 1992.