VIPs fete paper’s 10th birthday
At a rice-cake cutting ceremony for the 10th anniversary of the Korea JoongAng Daily, from left: former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo; GNP chief policy maker Ko Heung-kil; Norwegian Ambassador Didrik Tonseth; DP chief policy maker Jun Byung-hun; GNP Chairman Ahn Sang-soo; JoongAng Ilbo Chairman Hong Seok-hyun; DP floor leader Park Jie-won; Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun; Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon; Seoul National University President Oh Yeon-cheon; IHT Publisher Stephen Dunbar-Johnson; and Korea JoongAng Daily Publisher Cholsoo Charles Lho. By Kang Jung-hyun
A celebratory luncheon marking the 10th anniversary of the Korea JoongAng Daily was held at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul with roughly 130 guests attending.
Distinguished guests such as JoongAng Ilbo Chairman Hong Seok-hyun; Grand National Party Chairman Ahn Sang-soo; Democratic Party floor leader Park Jie-won; Minister of Strategy and Finance Yoon Jeung-hyun; and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon made appearances at the Ruby Hall of the hotel’s Yeong Bin Gwan for the occasion. A dozen ambassadors, including Japanese Ambassador Masatoshi Muto and Russian Ambassador Konstantin V. Vnukov, also attended the event.
“We are marking the anniversary and relaunch by freshening the paper’s design, altering the flow of its sections, and changing the way it’s distributed with our publishing partner of 10 years, the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times,” said Hong, congratulating the paper on its anniversary and touching on the paper’s recent metamorphosis with a new name, layout and packaged form.
Hong also spoke of the paper’s next goals of becoming the English-language newspaper that best represents Korea and the best English-language newspaper in Asia.
“[The 10th anniversary] represents more than just a good start,” said Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, publisher of the International Herald Tribune, in his remarks. Dunbar-Johnson said mutual respect and trust between the IHT and the Korea JoongAng Daily were crucial to nurturing the paper’s success and that the partnership was a “benchmark for professionalism and commitment.”
“The Korea JoongAng Daily is like a textbook for foreigners who want to learn about Seoul,” said Mayor Oh. The mayor spoke about the city’s ambitions to become a world-class city and the paper’s contribution to that goal.
Toward the end of the ceremony, twelve distinguished guests from the audience were invited on stage to cut a massive Korean rice-cake.
With 10 years under its belt since the paper was founded in 2000, the Korea JoongAng Daily must now “aspire to a higher goal,” according to its publisher, Cholsoo Charles Lho. This was in line with Korea’s aspiration to become a country with a higher profile on the world stage, he said.
By Christine Kim [christine.kim@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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