Handok announced on the 30th that it held a memorial ceremony at the Handok Future Complex in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of its founder, the late Je-seok (濟石) Kim Shin-kwon.
Kim Young-jin, Chairman of Handok, is speaking at the memorial ceremony held on the 30th at Handok Future Complex in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the passing of the founder, the late Je-seok (濟石) Kim Shin-kwon. [Photo by Handok]
The 10th anniversary memorial ceremony was held to honor Kim Shin-kwon, attended by family members including Handok Chairman Kim Young-jin, representatives of executives and employees, and retired staff, reflecting on his legacy. Additionally, Handok employees held a memorial week from the 24th for one week at the Seoul headquarters and research institute, the Chungbuk production plant, and the Je-seok Hall of the Handok Medical Museum.
The late Kim Shin-kwon was born in 1922 in Uiju, Pyeongbuk, opened a pharmacy in Manchuria, China at the age of 20, and founded Handok (formerly Handok Pharmaceutical) in 1954. He dedicated 70 years to the pharmaceutical industry and passed away on April 30, 2014, at the age of 92. At the memorial ceremony, Chairman Kim Young-jin said, “Handok, founded by my father and the founder Kim Shin-kwon, is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Despite many changes over the long years, we will continue the founding spirit that aimed to build Handok into a respected company as the unchanging root of Handok.”
Kim Shin-kwon is recognized as a figure who led the advancement of the Korean pharmaceutical industry and contributed to the economic development of the Republic of Korea. He began global business early by forming a technical partnership (1957) and joint venture (1964) with Hoechst of Germany, which possesses world-class pharmaceutical technology, and grew Handok into a leading Korean pharmaceutical company through “trust management” and “quality management.” In 1975, he encouraged employees to form a labor union and introduced support for children’s tuition and free company cafeterias.
The late Chairman Kim also took the lead in social contribution activities. In 1961, he established the Handok Scholarship Foundation to support the nurturing of outstanding talents in the medical and pharmaceutical fields and carried out various research support projects. To preserve disappearing medical and pharmaceutical historical materials, he founded the Handok Medical Museum in 1964, the first corporate and specialized museum in Korea. Even after stepping down from the front lines, Kim Shin-kwon launched the public interest corporation Handok Je-seok Foundation in 2006, named after his pen name Je-seok, to continue activities contributing to society such as cultural projects, scholarship programs, and research support initiatives.
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