[Figure] Excellency of Traditional Korean Paper

``Some people prefer a reformed Korean paper over the traditional Korean paper. I will show how to make the real traditional Korean paper.``

Ryu Woon-Young, CEO of Songdam Hanji, is excited about his demonstration for the production process of the Korean paper to the professors and students of the paper technology at Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, on June 20. He often gave special lectures at the domestic colleges but, for the first time, he is invited by a foreign university to demonstrate the manufacturing process of the traditional Korean paper.

At the public demonstration of the manufacturing process, Min Chun-Gi, professor of the Traditional Korean Paper Institute in Yong-in Songdam University, is to explain the scientific excellency of the Korean paper to the students.

``The characteristics of the traditional Korean paper are its natural color and the ecological manufacturing process, in which, when boiling paper mulberry, alkaline or other chemical solutions are never used and only sunshine is utilized for the decolorization.``

Mr. Ryu has lived all his life with Hanji (Korean paper) since he entered a Hanji factory at his age of 19. He used to work as a college staff and operated a business for the reformed Korean paper. However, he has produced only the traditional Korean paper for 22 years since 1979. He established last year Songdam Hanji, which is a corporate by the industry-university cooperation, under the auspice of Cho Young-Chul, the chairperson of the board of Yong-in Songdam University.

Mr. Ryu said, ``The Korean paper is the only paper that can be preserved for a thousand years. The paper could be used for the school diplomas and the government documents such as the warrants of appointment. The social concern and support are crucial for the preservation of the traditional Korean paper.``

Sung Ha-Woon hawoon@donga.com