I was born the eldest son in a family of fishermen who have been engaged in the fishing industry for three generations. I grew up in a small fishing village, and so the sea and fishing have been inseparable parts of my life. The journey my life has taken me on has been to the sea with the people in the fishing industry.

In 1998, I established HYE SEUNG FISHERIES CO., LTD, involved in large purse seine fishing, in order to provide high quality fishery products (and protein) to the market, and to stabilize supply and demand. At the moment, HYE SEUNG FISHERIES CO., LTD is highly ranked in the field of large purse seine fishing.

In the same year, I became a member of the Large Purse Seine Fisheries Cooperative located in Busan. In this capacity, I started a cooperative movement where co-prosperity and sharing based on the democratic participation of members existed.

In recognition of this sustained cooperative movement, I was elected president of the Large Purse Seine Fisheries Cooperative in 2006, and served one term.While in office, I was committed to improving the distribution structure of fishery products while strengthening the education of crewman.

In addition, I have been working hard to resolve the issue of rapidly aging fishing village populations. To deal with this, I have consistently signed MOUs with fishery high schools in order to nurture talent in this field.One might say that I have been endeavoring, with a long-term vision in mind, to develop fisheries.

In April 2014, the government awarded me the Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit in recognition of supply and demand stabilization, price stability, and the improvement in competitiveness of Korean fishery products both at home and abroad. In this way, my life’s journey has been made on the sea.

However, the fishing industry is in the midst of a crisis. No one is able to guarantee its sustainability due to marine contamination and resource depletion.

I firmly believe that while the ICFO acts as the center to strengthen cooperation between members while maintaining co-prosperity, sharing and the cooperatives principle, we can surely turn this crisis into an opportunity and stand as a touchstone of the future.

I cordially ask for your continued support and participation.