I was born in a remote village within the Jirisan known as Bong-gok in Gigok-myeon, Hamyang County, South Gyeongsang Province. Every morning before walking six kilometers along mountain roads to go to school, I would rise at dawn to cut the grass to feed our cows, which was the main source of income for my family. When I returned home from school, I helped with the farming and would struggle to stay awake while doing my homework under the light of a candle. I had to work on our farm because my parents were farmers, but the work was so hard that I would ask myself, “Could there be a way to do this difficult farm work without human labor?” I realized the answer was to become a scientist. I often dreamt I would become a great scientist and invent a machine for harvesting rice and grains.
After graduating from Jinju High School I set out to pursue my goals and ambitions and applied to Seoul National University’s Department of Chemical Science within the College of Engineering, but I was not accepted. So, I applied for the College of Pharmacy at Seoul National University because I felt that it was more applicable to the goals I wanted to achieve and happily I was accepted. After matriculating into the program I concentrated on my studies focusing on the synthesis of chemicals. Pharmacology is the study of processes for the synthesis of chemicals and fermentation to create new drugs that have more beneficial effects including finished medicines such as injection fluids, tablets, capsules, syrups and ointments. When I entered university I had a dream of inventing a rice harvesting machine; but when I left university, I had a new dream to create new substances for Pharmaceutical Raw Materials. Upon graduation, I joined a pharmaceutical company developing raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. At that time, however, science in Korea was not advanced and the country was in the early stages of economic growth, so we were unable to reach the stage of making new drugs by synthesizing new substances. We, therefore, changed the direction of our research to focus on developing the technology necessary to synthesize raw materials so that we would not need to rely on imports from foreign companies and moved on to succeed in synthesizing more than 30 different kinds of Pharmaceutical Raw Materials.
While I was working in the research and development department at the pharmaceutical company, a friend who was working at a small cosmetics manufacturing company approached me and asked me to provide the technical support for the growth of SMEs within the cosmetics industry. I felt that this was an opportunity to realize my dream; so, with the technical knowledge I had gained in synthesizing raw materials for pharmaceutics, we founded Beebongfine Co., Ltd. (Parent company of Daebong LS) to synthesize oxidants known as sodium bromite.Beebongfine has since changed its name to UCL and operates as an ODM and OEM for cosmetics. Daebong LS is engaged in the research, development and production services with approximately 1,200 different products related to cosmetics, Pharmaceutical Raw Materials and FOOD & FEED. Although I have not yet achieved my dreams to create new medicines. I believe that the foundation for achieving this dream has been built. I hope that those who have followed me will inherit this dream and carry on to place new materials developed by Daebong LS on the Merck Index, the globally renowned authoritative source for chemicals, drugs and biologicals.
I had two goals when I established this company, which were to help others and realizing my dreams by helping others. My motto, therefore, is 他利我得 (when others win, we win), which is incorporated in the seven principles of corporate management and the 10 principles of corporate culture of our company. In other words, it is the highest goal of companies to generate profits, distribute, pay taxes and reinvest, but the process should also benefit others. I believe my successors will also continue to carry out this mission and promote the growth and well-being of others.