Ballpoint pen was an instant sensation

Song Sam-suk founded Kwangshin Chemical in 1960 to import paint and dyes.

A chance encounter with a Japanese man and his ballpoint pen in 1962 got Song thinking.

At the time, ballpoint pens were rare in Korea, and he was impressed with its performance and convenience.

Song decided to travel with a group of researchers to Japan to gather information on what it would take to produce their own ballpoint pens.

The key, they found, was to put ink into a small plastic tube and make the ink drip little by little.

In order to do so, the ball in the pen had to be manufactured with extreme precision.

After one year of R&D, Korea’s first ballpoint pen, dubbed “Monami 153,” was introduced in May 1963.

The number 15 referred to the price of the pen, which was sold for 15 won, and “3” referred to the last digit of the year the pen was created. Mon ami means “my friend” in French.

The ballpoint pen was an instant sensation.

The product was so popular that Song changed the name of his company to Monami in 1967.

Since then, Monami has released 140 different pens on the market.

One of its products, Sign Pen, was so popular that it became part of the Korean lexicon.

The company became an overnight household name in stationery products.

The Monami 153 ballpoint pen is still the best-selling product among Monami’s pens.

Since Monami 153 was launched in the market, it has reached sales of over 3.4 billion units.

Even when many competing stationery companies struggled during the financial crisis in the late 1990s, Monami survived thanks to the Monami 153.

Today, however, the ballpoint pen is facing its biggest threat yet: the computer.

Song Ha-kyung, who inherited the company from his father, started expanding the company’s business to office supplies.

Monami continues to expand by looking to overseas markets for growth.

The company exports its products to 100 countries, including Japan and Turkey.

By Choi Ji-young [ebusiness@joongang.co.kr]