A photo of the 144 participants in the 22nd Bacchus University Student Long March through National Land with their parents and the CEOs of Dong-A Pharm and Dong-A Socio Holdings taken at Koseong Playground in Koseong where the long walk was completed after 20 nights and 21 days.

Dong-A Pharm’s completed its 21-day 22nd Bacchus University Student Long March through National Land event at Koseong Playground in Koseong, Gangwon Province on July 18 in a ceremony attended by the parents of the students,

President Han Jong-hyun of Dong-A Socio-Holdings and President Choi Ho-jin of Dong-A Pharm, who congratulated the students on completing the long walk through the country.

It was the 22nd iteration of the event, the company said on July 19.

In his congratulatory speech, President Choi congratulated the students, who had to fight the heat and other obstacles in completing the 573 km-long march through the country.

He added that they are now better prepared to race tough events in their lives now that they know what it’s like to persevere when facing such a tough task.

Kim Dong-jin, who participated in the long walk, said the 21-day event has been a great opportunity to learn what the challenges are like and what is needed to complete the march, which he said was a truly meaningful period in their lives.

The long march kicked off on June 28 in Pohang with 144 college students participating in the tough event to take walk for 20 nights

and 21 days to arrive in Koseong, one of the terminals for inter-Korean exchange, via various cities on the way including Youngdok, Uljin, Samchok, Gangneung and Sokcho.

Dong-A Pharm operated various programs to help the students complete the great, including a talent show, a comedian and a speech by German journalist Anton Schultz.

They also had a chance to meet their parents and their seniors, who participated in the long march previously and a “Bacchus Day,” among the many events held to encourage them to hang in there and finish the march.

A special event was a South-North Peaceful Unification performance to wrap up the 573 km walk, praying for another opportunity for the unification of the divided Koreas and an ending of the painful history of a half-century of division.

The Dong-A Pharm’s College Student Great Long March has been designed to teach the value in fighting within oneself, not others, to feel that we are one

and never to give, which was initially suggested by Honorary Chairman Kang Shin-ho of Dong-A Socio in 1998 to relieve the pains that the college students went through then amid an economic downturn and give them the self- confidence to succeed.

 The event had a total of 3,001 participants, who were picked out of 266,662 applicants. The accumulated distance over the years extends for 12,031 km, equal to 15 trips from Seoul to Busan.

 In the initial year of walk, the ratio of the applicants versus the participants stood at 24 to 1, but the ratio zoomed to 129 to 1 this year, far exceeding the average annual ratio of 88 to 1 up until the 21st event last year.

 Haenam was the town where the kick-off ceremony was held for the 1st Great March in 1998. Other starting and finishing places over the years include Kohung,

where the Naro Universal Center is located, and Songsan Sunrise Peak in Jeju, and Paju, the connecting point for the Seoul-Shinuiju Railroad, and Cheonan, where the Independence Memorial Hall is located.

A crowd of college students jubilant after the long march was completed on July 18 at Koseong Playhground in Koseong, Gangwon Province, near DMZ, one of the terminals for inter-Korea exchange.(Photos: Dong-A Pharm)