[interview] Ryu Deok-hee, the chairman of Kyungdong Pharmaceutical (Chemistry 56’) (1)
- 자연과학대학
- Hit3204
- 2017-05-25
Making a Warm World by Sharing
In March of this year, most students will be amazed at the new café and the renovated restaurant menu. Looking at the ever-changing enrichment of schools, we might have wondered who supports our school life. The change of the school begins with donations from seniors of Sungkyunkwan University. Many graduates are striving for the development of school and the more abundant life of their juniors. Among them, I met Ryu Deok-hee, the chairman of Kyungdong Pharmaceutical (Chemistry 56’), who contributed about 9 billion of the school development fund, the global center establishment fund, and the department development fund to the school.
The footsteps of President Ryu Deok-Hee
Ryu Duk Hee was born on May 20, 1938, in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. In high school he was a very intelligent curious student. During his high school year as a second grader, he studied chemistry hard to tease ignorance of his teacher. As a result, he took the first place in the chemical test. Since then, his interest in chemistry has grown. Having been interested in chemistry, he eventually entered the chemistry department of our school in 1956. He was the son of a poor family of seven brothers and sisters. When the financial situation was not really good with his family, he worked for a company called Seoul Electric during the leave of absence period to earn his tuition. He worked hard on the campus, but he served as student president during the second semester of the third grade. As student chairperson, he participated in the 4.19 democratization movement. After graduating from university in 1961, he started his business in 1975 and founded Kyungdong Pharmaceutical.
◎ The companion of President Ryu Deok-Hee, the director of Kyungdong Pharmaceutical
Pathway of Kyungdong Pharmaceutical
Kyungdong Pharmaceutical is a pharmaceutical manufacturer. It started in September 1975 as the name of Yu-il Sangsa and changed its name to Kyungdong Pharmaceutical in 1976. At the beginning of Kyungdong Pharmaceutical, it manufactured and sold gastric medicines and vitamins that less burden on them unlike aspirin. Furthermore, in the 1980s, he led localization of imported medicines and developed drug raw materials under the leadership of President Ryu Deok-Hee. At this time, he applied for a patent on the raw material of the developed drug and earned a profit. Drugs currently produced include digestive tract solvents, antibiotics, antimicrobial agents, antivirals, and various other medicines. Since the 1990s, the company have entered overseas markets and now export raw pharmaceuticals and finished products to Southeast Asia and Latin America. In 1985, 1995 and 1998, Kyungdong Pharmaceutical was selected as a promising SME and it was selected as a good SME in 1999. Since then, Kyungdong have been spurring exports, winning the "Million Dollar Export Tower" in 2001, "The Tower of Exports of 3 Million Dollars" in 2007, and the "Tower of Exports of 10 Million Dollars" in 2013. President Ryu revealed that he hoped to further increase exports through international standardization work.
Looking at KyungDong Pharmaceutical
Kyungdong Pharma's name is based on the fact that it started in the east of Seoul. In spite of this, President Ryu said, "Kyungdong Pharmacy" is soft and comfortable and the name is quite good. Kyungdong Pharma's motto is 'to be a guide to the health and happiness of mankind by creating truthfully and diligently, developing and serving the heart.' This is all the value that President Ryu emphasizes. President Ryu said that Kyung-dong Pharm was able to succeed because of "the staff's ball" and "the self-reliance"."The reason our company could be so big is thanks to the employees. Everyone has done their job diligently and tried to make better medicines. I would like to give my employees a chance to succeed in our company who have believed and followed me. I would like to add that the reason for my success is that I did not fill my self-interest. (Laughs)
I was embarrassed to speak with my mouth, but I tried to provide people with better medicines cheaper than the company's profits. Could it be that Kyungdong Pharma could come to this position because people knew that? "However, Kyungdong Pharma was not always successful. When President Ryu first borrowed money from the banks when he founded the company, economic burden was huge. The collateral was held in the bank and the company was not able to make big sales when it was founded. It is not too much to say that economic difficulties had been solved by the insight of President Ryu Deok-Hee of Kyungdong Pharma has found that as the life span of people increases, diseases in the cardiovascular and urological systems increase. Also, most Koreans have found that there are problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Based on these insights, he focused on the circulatory and digestive systems. In addition, as Korea is economically stable, it has also developed a dermatologic line of medicine considering that people care about cosmetics. Reading the demands of the times and developing appropriate medicine for them helped Kyungdong Pharma out of the initial economic difficulties.