Memorial ceremony held Tuesday at Heungkuk Life Insurance Building in Gwanghwamun

About 270 executives and employees from major affiliates attend

'The future is not something that comes to you — it is something you create'

Lee Ho-jin, adviser to Taekwang Industrial, delivers a memorial address at the 30th anniversary ceremony for the late founder Lee Im-yong at Cinecube in the Heungkuk Life Insurance Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, on Tuesday. [Taekwang Group]
Lee Ho-jin, adviser to Taekwang Industrial, delivers a memorial address at the 30th anniversary ceremony for the late founder Lee Im-yong at Cinecube in the Heungkuk Life Insurance Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, on Tuesday. [Taekwang Group]

Taekwang Group held a ceremony Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of its late founder, Lee Im-yong, at Cinecube in the Heungkuk Life Insurance Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

About 270 people attended, including Taekwang Industrial adviser Lee Ho-jin, Taekwang Industrial co-CEOs Jeong In-cheol and Lee Bu-eui, Heungkuk Life Insurance CEO Kim Hyeong-pyo, Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance CEO Kim Dae-hyeon and Aekyung Industrial CEO Kim Sang-jun, along with other executives and employees from major affiliates.

In his memorial address, Lee Ho-jin cited the late founder's words — "The future is not something that comes to you; it is something you create, and if you cannot create it yourself, no future is promised to you" — and urged the group to "lay the groundwork for a new leap forward through bold change."

He added that "the core businesses that have sustained Taekwang for more than 70 years now face a survival competition," and that "securing new growth engines is Taekwang's most urgent task."

The ceremony featured a memorial video capturing the founder's life and management philosophy, with AI technology used to animate archival photographs and vividly recreate his likeness. Scholarship students in music from the Ilju Academy of Arts and Culture, a foundation the founder established, then performed a memorial concert.

Lee Im-yong founded Taekwang Industrial in 1954, the predecessor of Taekwang Group, and expanded its reach into textiles, petrochemicals and financial services, laying the foundation for the group's growth. Guided by the belief that building industry was tantamount to building the nation, he also devoted himself to nurturing talent and contributing to society. In 1977 he established the Ilju School Foundation to support education, and in 1990 he set up the Ilju Academy of Arts and Culture to fund scholarships and support academic and cultural activities.

A Taekwang Group official said the ceremony was "an occasion to reflect on the values of industrial patriotism, challenge and talent development that the founder left behind," adding that the group would "carry on his legacy by continuing to pursue change and innovation and discovering new growth engines."

Meanwhile, a memorial exhibition tracing the founder's life and the history of Taekwang Group's growth will run in the Cinecube lobby through Nov. 8.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com