Chairman Lee Pil-woo of Seoul National University’s Advanced Center for Administrative Development Alumni (SNU-ACADA) speaks at a general meeting of the association and New Year's gathering.

Chairman Lee Pil-woo of the Association of N. Chungcheong Province Residents  in Seoul and also a member of the 11th National Assembly has been renovating his summer house, the Yongchu Won, after renaming it as the Chung-Hyo Gate or the Loyalty-Filial Piety Gate to make the facility  a  center for teaching loyalty and filial piety, especially, to young people. 

The Yongchu Won is located in  Gaeryong-ri, Chupungryong-myon, Yeongdong County, North Chungcheong Province.

 The letters engraved on the rock at the entrance of the Chung Hyo Gate are loyalty and filial piety which have been the motto for his life-time philosophy.

 The spirit of Chung Hyo to Lee has been the model to be practiced in life, which is why he has been calling for training  people as many as possible to be talented enough to show their filial piety to their parents and at the same time be loyal to their fatherland.

In front of the Chung-Hyo Gate will be a monument bearing the letters In and Ui, representing generosity and justice, making up the roots of Confucianism and Ka-hwa-man-seong. In and Ui represent the key discipline of the spirit of Confucius  and also the main root of the spirit of Seonbi or learned class of people.

 Lee Ik-won who begot Lee Jae-hyun, one of the most loyal ministers of the Goryeo Dynasty, was the person of the renowned family, the Gyeongju Lee Seonbi Clan and he pursued the Han Chinese academic  study from the early years of his life and learned from his parents the right path of life rooted in In and Ui. Ka-wha-man-sa-seong means every thing is related to households and can achieve success only when harmony is achieved.

 Chairman Lee, who grew up under harmonious and generous parents, adopted faithfulness and the straight road as the main theme of his life-time philosophy. Chairman Lee always finished things thoroughly and faithfully for his satisfaction. His career spanned from an unit leader of the Presidential Guard Office under late President Rhee Syng-man, a member of the 11th National Assembly, the head of Dongil Group and chairman of the Chungbuk Association, the Central Fraternity Association of Gyeongju Lee Genealogy, chairman of the Seoul National University’s Advanced Center for Administrative Development Alumni(SNU-ACADA) and to chairman of the 11th National Assembly Parliamentarians Committee, serving as heads of all kinds of social service organizations practicing the spirit of “Just Road.”

His love for the people from his native town was different from others in that he gave rice that were harvested from the rice paddies he owns in Yeongdong  every year to from 700 to 1,000 of those from North Chungcheong Province, who live in Seoul and gave the citations to the exemplary loyal sons and loyal wives every year also. He also gave scholarships to tens of students every year through various scholarship foundations with the receivers of the scholarships totaling several thousands now.

 The recipients of those scholarships  are in important positions in all areas of society, including government, judiciary authorities such as courts and persecution, officials at national tax service and the business community as top executives. He has done things that no other chairman of the Chungbuk Association has done so far in the area of providing scholarships practicing the project of sharing with others.

The Chung Hyo Gate (Loyalty & Filial Piety Gate), formerly Yongchu Won, is a center for teaching loyalty and filial piety to people. 

 Chairman Lee helped to make his native Yeongdong County  widely known in N. Chungcheong Province as an industrial mecca. He took over Wine Korea just before it became bankrupt because of his love for his native town. Before the chairman took over the wine producer, the Yeongdong County Office held a 50 percent stake in the company and the stake was about to be unloaded. The wine maker failed to make profit year-after-year leaving no choice but to close down unless some one takes over the company and save it. 

.Chairman Lee heard of the dire situation facing the grape industry in his county especially Wine Korea and decided to help. He helped salvage the industry as best as he could. He could not leave all the wineries in the province .go out of business. He took over Wine Korea with lots of his own money and made it to be the most profitable winery  not only in the province, but in the whole country of Korea. Chairman Lee has been behind the Yeongdong County being the richest county in the province as far as farmers’ income was concerned. 

“Chateau Mani, the most popular wine brand produced by Wine Korea, is the only wine brewed in barrels made of oak and stored in tunnels. For the first time last year, the sale of Chateau Mani shot up to 5 billion won, making it the representative wine brand of Korea

SUN-ACADA Chairman Lee Pil-woo gives a plaque of appreciation to former prime minister-ex SNU president Chung Woon-chan, who lectured on shared growth at the National Policy Forum.

Wine Korea produces 200,000 bottles of Nouveau, wine made with the new crops of grapes, and some of them will be presented during the festival for testing. Chateau Mani has been acclaimed as a wine that appeals to the wine lovers in Korea and has been considered to have chased the French Beaujolais out of the wine market in Korea.

In 2007, Chateau Mani was selected as the wine to be served at the “Korea Sparkling in New York” event hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, where foreign diplomats in New York were invited to attend, including Sec.-Gen. Bank Ki-moon of the United Nations. Recently, the wine was chosen as the official wine for the toasting at a state-guest meeting in Mongolia.

Chairman Lee buys many bottles of Chateau Mani every year to help Wine Korea. He gives them away as gifts. The employees of the winery were deeply impressed by the chairman’s great support to their winery and works doubly hard and  show their kindness to the visitors to their wine plant. On every weekend, a wine train departs from the Seoul Railroad Station for a memorable trip to Yeongdong.

The 7th Korea Wine Festival is scheduled to kick off Oct. 13-16 in Yeongdong, North Chungcheong Province, the home of Korea’s wine industry. The colorful and exciting event is to take place at the Yeongdong Gymnasium in Yeongdong County and the district, which is designated as “Wine Korea.”

 The event includes diverse programs, a wine tasting event, followed by local food tastings and accompanied by music so that the wine manias and tourists from all over the country can enjoy the festivity, along with the local residents.

 Also included in the festivities is a workshop on wine brewing and a seminar to make the event a center of national attention. The event also includes imported wines from world-renowned wineries, including those in France and Italy.

Wine Korea was set up in 1995 by the Yeongdong County Administration and local grape farmers, who are known for producing the best grapes in Korea. 

 Chairman Lee has vast real estate holdings around the country including N. Chungcheong Province, giving hope to the grape farmers that the chairman can help them overcome their challenges and continue to work and feed their families.

An inside view of the oak barrel storage. (Photos: Chairman Lee Pil-woo’s office)

  Chairman Lee still has a passion for studying. He still reads the books on Confucius and Mencius and turns on CNN and NHK of Japan to find out what’s happening around the world by listening to their news broadcasts at three in the morning to stick with his philosophy that one has to study all his life to be a success in life.

“Study in an act one has to carry one in his entire life, with accumulation of one’s ability being the shortcut to success, making difference from others,” the chairman used to say.

His health is like those in the 50s as he  swims for two hours every morning taking care of his daily schedule like a young man. Through the chairman, one can see a leader, the most successful in his business, and walking the straight road all the time in life.