Culture ministry honors 29 publishing figures on 40th Book Day

The culture ministry said Monday that Kim Jin-hwan, chief executive of the publisher Hakjisa, will receive the Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit, the highest of 29 government awards for contributions to publishing presented at this year's Book Day ceremony.

Kim was recognized for founding Hakjisa in 1992 and building it into a publishing group that includes the medical imprint Hakjisa Medical, Hakjisa Edu and Wise Box, for bringing out about 7,000 titles, and for his term as president of the Korean Association of Academic Publishers, where he worked on restructuring the distribution of copyright compensation, responding to illegal copying and promoting electronic publishing.

First Vice Minister Kim Young-su will hand out the awards at the 40th Book Day ceremony at the Korea Press Center on Oct. 12, which is organized by the Korean Publishers Association under chairman Kim Tae-heon.

Book Day was established by the publishing industry in 1987 to mark the completion of the Goryeo Tripitaka on Oct. 11, 1251.

The awards went to one Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit recipient, two presidential citations, two prime ministerial citations and 24 ministerial citations, for a total of 29 honorees.

Joo Yeon-sun, chief executive of the publisher EunHaeng NaMu, and Kim Ki-tae, a professor at Semyung University, received the presidential citations. Joo was honored for founding her company in 1997 and issuing about 1,200 literary, humanities and arts titles, work that included discovering new writers, opening up genre fiction, launching the literary journal Axt and selling Korean rights overseas. Kim has taught copyright and research ethics to publishing students since 2001 and has led academic societies and industry-academic cooperation in the field of publishing studies.

Prime ministerial citations went to Kim Jong-su, chief executive of Hanul M Plus, and Lee Ji-yeon, chief executive of Jis Publishing. Kim founded his company in 1980 and has published about 4,000 social science titles while working on publishing policy, distribution reform and professional training. Lee entered publishing in 1994, founded Jis Publishing in 2010 and has issued practical books on information technology and education.

Another 24 honorees, including Nam Sang-ho of Yesin Books, Moon Kyu-sik of Jangwon Education and Kim Ju-won of Gungpyeonchaek, received ministerial citations for work ranging from publishing and distributing good books to opening new markets.

"Books are a precious asset that carries our society's knowledge, thoughts and experience to the next generation, and they are the source of K-content," First Vice Minister Kim said.

He added that the government will communicate closely with the publishing industry and actively support the discovery and use of publishing intellectual property, overseas expansion and the spread of reading culture so that more good books can be made and reach a wider range of fields.