The 30th Ho-Am Prize Winners Include Kim Subong, Senior Researcher at Sungkyunkwan University, and Four Others

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Ho-Am Foundation announced on the 8th that it has selected five individuals, including Soo-Bong Kim, Senior Researcher at the Basic Science Research Institute of Sungkyunkwan University (60), as the '30th Ho-Am Prize Laureates.'

This year's Ho-Am Prize winners include Senior Researcher Kim for the Science Prize, Professor Jae-Soo Lim of MIT in the United States (70) for the Engineering Prize, Seung-Jeong Park, Chair Professor at Ulsan University (66) for the Medicine Prize, Min-Ki Kim, Director of the Hakjeon Theater Company (69) for the Arts Prize, and Seong-Soo Kim, Village Chief of Uri Maeul (90) for the Social Service Prize.

The Ho-Am Foundation plans to award certificates, medals, and prize money of 300 million KRW to the winners in each category. The award ceremony schedule has not yet been decided due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The foundation explained that this year's laureates were selected through a rigorous and fair four-month evaluation process, including verification of achievements by a judging committee composed of 38 renowned domestic and international scholars and experts, an advisory panel of 31 internationally acclaimed foreign scholars, and on-site inspections.

Senior Researcher Kim, who won the Science Prize, is a world-renowned authority in neutrino research, having led a Korean joint research team to successfully measure the weakest transformation strength to reveal the characteristics of neutrinos, one of the fundamental particles that make up the universe.

Professor Lim, who received the Engineering Prize, is a global expert who developed video signal conversion technology adopted as the international digital TV standard during the 1990s transition from analog to digital, leading the shift to the digital video era. He is also credited with developing digital voice compression technology, which has driven the development and commercialization of various products based on digital voice communication, such as mobile radio, satellite radio and telephone, and mobile phones.

Professor Park, awarded the Medicine Prize, is a renowned cardiologist who was the first in the world to prove that stent procedures, which insert a metal mesh into blocked or narrowed coronary arteries to widen them, have treatment effects equivalent to surgical operations.

Director Kim, who won the Arts Prize, is recognized for opening the small theater 'Hakjeon' in Daehangno in 1991 and presenting new alternatives to the Korean performing arts scene by expressing stories imbued with Korean emotions and life’s sorrows and joys through small theater musicals.

Village Chief Kim, recipient of the Social Service Prize, founded the 'St. Peter School,' a special school for people with developmental disabilities in Guro-gu, Seoul, in 1974. Serving as principal, he developed educational curricula and programs for people with disabilities and is regarded as a pioneer in special education for the disabled in Korea.

The Ho-Am Prize was established in 1990 by Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee in honor of the late Samsung Group founder Ho-Am (湖巖) Lee Byung-chul. Marking its 30th anniversary this year, a total of 153 laureates have received prize money amounting to 27.4 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.