Service and harmony are essential and voluntary elements for beautifying society, but actually practicing service and reaching out is difficult and requires a lot of effort and time. Our society is changing into a selfish society that thinks of itself before others. However, not everyone is like that. There are also natural volunteers who share a little of what they have and help their neighbors in need.

Educating prisoners so they do not repeat the same mistakes

People can make mistakes in their lives, and those mistakes can cause them to temporarily become isolated from society. The purpose of education is only achieved when they reflect on their mistakes, return to society, and become members of society like other people. Miryang Book Publishing CEO Shin In-keu serves as the Chairman of the Miryang Detention Center Employment and Startup Committee Council and has been helping inmates settle down as members of society by providing employment and entrepreneurship education for over a decade. “Everyone can make mistakes. But it is important not to repeat the same mistakes. I help them not to repeat the same mistakes, to adapt as members of society, and to live well like others.”

Only those who walk can move forward

Shin has been walking since 2010, regaining his balance and vitality in life. He, the President of Miryang City Walking Federation, says that our life curve can change depending on how diligently we walk. He participated in the ‘19th Korea 100km Citizens’ Walking Competition’ in April with participants from Japan, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Norway, and the Netherlands, and is currently preparing for the ‘Ten Bridge Night Walking Competition’ under 10 bridges in Miryang in September and the ‘Yeongnam Daero Forum’, the first of its kind in Korea, in December. 

1% chance to complete 100%

He attended Miryang College (now Pusan National University Miryang Campus) on a full scholarship. After graduating from college, he got a job at a mid-sized company in Miryang, but quit the company after three years and opened a printing shop, as his hobby was reading books. In 1993, he opened a printing office with his entire fortune of 600,000 won and a monthly rent of 300,000 won. He has now secured over 500 business partners nationwide, and over 200 of them have been in business for over 20 years. The ‘Simcheong Scholarship Foundation’, which was founded in 1993, has provided scholarships worth over 1 billion won to over 300 children and has been donating 4 million won per year since 2015 to the Miryang Citizen Scholarship Foundation, totaling 34 million won, to develop education in Miryang City. In order to practice noblesse oblige, he joined the Honor Society, a group of high-value donors in Miryang, in December 2014 and has been quietly practicing sharing. He said “Rather than using the words donation or consignment, I think the word sharing is more appropriate because I think of it as sharing something that I have a little more than others.” His entire family also pledged to donate their organs and deposited a debt equal to the number of family members to pay off the national debt of 95 million won, which is the average debt per person. He said “Depending on what we value and what we find satisfaction in, our lives can be happy or unhappy. When we realize that we are all living together and do things that help others, we can become spiritually rich.”