6th Anniversary of Magazine N: Dream and Vision

A few days ago, marking the 6th anniversary of our Magazine N, I told you that I would introduce you to our dream and vision.

To be honest, I wonder if there is another dream that is more specific and realistic than the fact that I have been able to make it to No.69. It was really hard. I have thought about giving up a few times. In fact, I have even thought about selling Magazine N with Asia N, a considerably valuable site that appears on a Naver search and newsstand. But there was one thing that raised me up every time. It was the “value of journalism” that was deeply engraved into me when I became a reporter for The Hankyoreh in 1988, and when I stepped down as a President of the Journalist Association of Korea in 2005. To stand on the side of the victimized and powerless, to voice my opinion, no matter how small, in a corrupt society— I could not give up because I had to do it.

“Let us not forget our goals when we first establish our university,” this is what Kim Young-Gil, President of Handong University who passed away last week, often said. It’s not because I am better than others. It is the thought that if I persist through hardship, the world might become a better place.

Recently, Reverend Cho Chung-min, who I look up to, said this: “If you are not going to hate someone even after death, let us not hate. If it is something that you are not going to worry even after death, let us not worry.” Though there are still times when I worry. From a wage earner for twenty-two years to an employer, this change is still a burden to me. But I am not going to avoid this path. There is a two-word sentence that I like— “Face it!”

Enough with this matter. It has been almost two years since this chatroom was first made on July 12, 2017. We started out with thirty groups of twelve, but now we have three groups of 245+, 169+, and 155+. I am sending out some comments on Asia N contents, and some people are saying that it feels too dull without any responses or emoticons. Thank you for being so patient. The link below is an introduction by Malaysia’s public news agency, Bernama Telecom, to Magazine N’s 6th anniversary. Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, and others have also covered our 6th anniversary. I hope you had a good weekend and have a fresh start today. Thank you for reading this until the end.

Sincerely,
Lee Sang-Ki