Founder of Yuhan Corporation, the late Dr. Yu Ilhan, 51st Anniversary of Passing

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Yuhan Corporation announced on the 11th that it marked the 51st anniversary of the passing of Dr. Yu Il-han, the company's founder and a model figure in the history of Korean business. Dr. Yu passed away on March 11, 1971, at the age of 75.

Dr. Yu is recognized as a figure who practiced "noblesse oblige" by separating ownership and management of the company early on and returning accumulated wealth to society.

Born in 1895 in Pyongyang, Dr. Yu Il-han went to study in the United States at the young age of nine. He achieved great success in the food business and other ventures in the U.S. However, he returned to Korea in 1926, leaving those behind, to establish Yuhan Corporation for the improvement of public health and the cultivation of technical talent through education.

With the conviction that "a company belongs to society," Dr. Yu converted Yuhan Corporation into a joint-stock company in 1936 and, in 1939, adopted the employee stock ownership system?the first of its kind in Korea. Two years before his passing, in 1969, he had already relinquished his management rights and handed over the presidency to a professional manager. Since then, for over 53 years, Yuhan Corporation has continuously elected professional managers from among its regular employees, and among the approximately 1,900 Yuhan employees, there is not a single relative of Dr. Yu Il-han.

Under the principle that "profits earned by a company should be returned to the society that nurtured it," Dr. Yu invested corporate profits in talent development for national progress and actively promoted scholarship and educational projects.

Dr. Yu also set an example for society through his publicly disclosed will after his death. To his eldest son, Yu Il-seon, he left the instruction, "You have graduated from university, so live independently from now on," and left only $10,000 for the education expenses of his granddaughter Yu Il-ling (then 7 years old). To his daughter Yu Jae-ra, he bequeathed about 5,000 pyeong (approximately 16,500 square meters) of land around Yuhan Middle and Technical High Schools for students to play on, with the will stating that "all properties, including ownership stocks, are to be used for social and educational projects," which moved many people deeply.

Furthermore, long after his passing, the release of a CIA secret document revealed that Dr. Yu had also served as a special agent for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), during World War II. This disclosure of his activities in the independence movement for his homeland once again became an inspiration to many.

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