Untitled Document
 The
encyclopedia is a treasure house of knowledge. All people need
it to study and search for data. However, when Korea’s first encyclopedia
appeared, it didn’t draw much attention from the public.
Let’s look into the story of Kim Sang-moon (1915-2011), who published
it, to find out more!
In 1945, Kim Sang-moon founded a publishing company named
“Dong-a” at the age of 30. Since he was too young to run his own business,
he was somewhat worried. However,
he had a belief that he could make it.
Several years later, his company became the most reputable publisher in Korea.
Then, he started to dream a bigger goal. “There should be Korea’s
representative encyclopedia,” he thought.
 He
spent all the money that he previously gained on making
the encyclopedia. People around him tried to stop him because it seemed
to be very dangerous. However, Kim didn’t care at all about what people
said.
Kim was very poor when he was little. He spent his childhood reading
books. Books were only friends on which he could rely. So, Kim, who
realized the importance of reading in
his childhood, couldn’t stop making an encyclopedia for the people.
And, finally, he made Korea’s first encyclopedia. It consisted of
30 volumes.
 However,
as people around him predicted, the books weren’t
welcomed by people because of the high price. The huge amount of unsold
books started to be piled up in his office. His
company was also in danger of bankruptcy. Under this difficult
circumstance, Kim tried hard
not to be discouraged by his failure.
He decided to gain his feet, again!
In 1996, he republished the encyclopedia, renaming it “Doosan World
Encyclopedia두산세계대백과사전.” Since then, it has been beloved by many people
and recognized as the one and only encyclopedia
in Korea. |
Staff
reporter Kayla Park
(suhihi00@timescore.co.kr) |
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