Toy manufacturer opens museum in Gyeonggi

So Jae-gyu, who has run a toy manufacturing company for 34 years, has realized his dream of opening the country’s first toy museum.
HanlipToy Museum recently opened in a three-story building in Heiri Village in Paju, Gyeonggi.
So, 62, is chairman of HanlipToys, a local producer of educational toys for children.
He spent 5 billion won ($5.3 million) from his own pocket to make his dream come true.
“I wanted to gather diverse toys from around the world and let children enjoy them and learn the cultures of different countries,” So said.
“Our country needs to have a museum like this that is both a place to educate children and to preserve the history of toys.”
So began thinking of establishing a toy museum in 1985.
“I thought it was very regrettable that South Korea does not have a toy museum while countries like Japan, Germany and the United States have small or large museums in many cities,” So said.
Since 1985 he has been collecting exotic toys while traveling across the country and during his overseas business trips.
Sometimes, he was suspected of being a smuggler when he went through customs carrying a bag of toys.
Currently, he has a collection of 100,000 toys, and among them, around 2,000 are exhibited in the museum.
Toys on display at the museum range from traditional Korean toys to toy cars, robots, planes and dolls from Japan, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, China and Mongolia.
So plans to increase the number of toys at the museum and hold regular exhibitions with special themes.
The basement of the museum is called Story Land, where children can role-play diverse jobs in a mock police station, market, hospital, broadcasting company and beauty salon.
“No one can run a toy business without having a beautiful dream and warm heart,” So said.
“I will keep investing in the museum, and by the time my granddaughter, who is 1 year old, runs the museum, I want it to be world-renowned.”

By Jeon Ick-jin JoongAng Ilbo [soejung@joongang.co.kr]