In Dec. 2021, a series of events commemorating the 10th anniversary of Tae-Joon Park’s passing was held. The founder of POSTECH, Tae-Joon Park, is widely known as a business tycoon who founded POSCO, a global steelmaker company.
The event began with a symposium on Dec. 3 hosted by POSTECH and organized by the Tae-Joon Park Institute. Under the theme of “Eternal Resonance, Under the Spirit”, the symposium was held at POSCO CENTER from 2:00 P.M. to 4:30 P.M. and was broadcasted live on YouTube. The symposium’s goal was to discuss POSTECH’s future direction, and three presentations discussing this topic in accordance with Tae-Joon Park’s achievements and ideologies were given, followed by a comprehensive discussion at the end.
The first presentation was addressed by Byeong-Yeon Kim, professor at Seoul National University, looking back at Tae-Joon Park’s leadership and contributions to Korea’s economic development. Next, the POSTECH president Moo Hwan Kim discussed the history of POSTECH, from its establishment to where POSTECH is headed in the future, with the presentation titled “From University to Metaversity”. He underscored Tae-Joon Park’s ideology and ambition to make POSTECH the best university in the world, a place that contributes to the nation and humanity through education, research, and industry-university collaborations. Afterward, the third presenter Mi-Ock Mun, president of the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), gave a presentation under the title “Pohang: two ‘1km’ that lead the future”. She presented how technological development at POSTECH has accelerated in accordance with scientific advancements. The symposium ended with a comprehensive discussion among the three presenters and guests.
The next event was a tribute concert which took place on Dec. 7 at Lotte Concert Hall. The composer Keum Nan-sae, who had a close relationship with Tae-Joon Park, was the conductor, and the New World Philharmonic Orchestra, in collaboration with soprano Cho Sun-hyung, pianist Yoo Young-wook, and flutist Yoo Jae-ah enriched the concert. The orchestra played a total of seven musical pieces including Tchaikovsky’s 1812 prelude, on which the conductor Keum remarked, “The music is powerful and celebrates victory. I personally chose to play this song to commemorate and pay respect to Tae-Joon Park, who demonstrated indomitable will.”
On Dec. 13, a memorial ceremony took place at the Pohang Culture and Arts Center, sponsored by the Pohang City and organized by Pohang-City Council for Sustainable Development (PHCSD). The ceremony was a place to recall the spirit of Tae-Joon Park and was followed by a symposium under the title “Why does Korean society recall the spirit of Tae-Joon Park?” During the ceremony, Gong Won-sik, the director of PHCSD who gave the opening speech, said “The spirit of Tae-Joon Park is what the Pohang citizens should embody and keep in mind.” Also, in the final speech, he mentioned the will of Tae-Joon Park, who stressed, “We should never forget the dedication and contribution of citizens for how POSCO has become so successful.”