Park Hyun-gyu, chairman of the Korea Maritime Issues Research Institute, passed away around 6 p.m. on the 23rd, the Korea Shipowners' Association announced on the 24th. He was 98 years old.
Born in Yeongcheon, Gyeongbuk, and raised in Ulsan, he entered the Department of Navigation at Jinhae High Merchant Marine School (the predecessor of Korea Maritime University) in 1946 and became part of the university's first graduating class. In January 1950, he faced the Korean War as the first mate of the Ongjinho on the state-owned Korea Shipping Corporation, which was founded by absorbing Booyoung Shipping.
Hyungyu Park, Chairman of the Korea Maritime Institute
In 1954, he served as the first chairman of the labor union at Korea Shipping Corporation, and in 1955, he was appointed vice president of the Daehan Haegiwon Association, the predecessor of the Korea Ship Officers' Association. In 1956, he obtained a Class A captain's license with registration number 23. He also attended the evening law program at Kookmin University to study maritime law.
One of his achievements was contributing to the establishment of the Korean Register of Shipping. In the 1950s, Korean ships were registered with foreign classification societies such as the world's largest Lloyd's Register, and there was no domestic classification society to set ship grades and inspect ship structures and equipment. While working as a marine survey officer (manager) at Korea Shipping Corporation, he proposed the establishment of a classification society to Hwang Bu-gil (1909?1995), the head of the Maritime Affairs Office, in May 1960. When Huh Dong-sik, a fellow first graduate of Korea Maritime University, founded the Korean Register of Shipping, Park was among the 18 founding members.
In 1964, he founded Poongguk Shipping and acquired the Borisuho (2,597 tons) in August 1966. He merged it with Korea Shipping, where Shin Tae-beom was an executive director, and this marked the beginning of a 50-year friendship. After serving as executive director at Korea Shipping, he founded Korea Container Terminal Company (now KCTC) in 1972.
Returning to Korea Shipping as CEO in 1980, he prevented Pohang Iron and Steel Company from entering the shipping business and maintained the company's continuity when Hyundai Group's Hyundai Merchant Marine entered the deep-sea container shipping market. When Park became president of Korea Shipping, Shin Tae-beom became president of KCTC.
In August 1978, he founded the Korea Maritime Law Association (now the Korea Maritime Law Society) and served as vice president. In May 1980, he was a founding member and vice president of the Korea Maritime Youth Corps Federation. In 1982, he became vice president of the Korea Shipping Association. In 1985, he was appointed chairman of the Korea Maritime Issues Research Institute and publisher of the monthly magazine "Maritime Korea." He compiled the "Great Dictionary of Shipping and Logistics" in 2002 and published the "Korea Shipping Directory" annually. He received the first "Shipping Tower" award in 1988 and the inaugural merit plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Korea Shipowners' Association in 2010.
He is survived by his wife Lee Hwa-sook and their two sons and one daughter (Park Jung-seok, chairman of Korea Shipping; Park Sun-ah, appraiser; Park Joo-seok, professor at Kyung Hee University). The funeral is being held at Seoul Asan Medical Center Funeral Hall, Room 23. The funeral procession will depart at 8:20 a.m. on the 26th, and the burial site is Gwangneung Memorial Park. Contact: 02-3010-2000
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