Kolmar Korea chairman publishes fourth history-management essay on Admiral Yi Sun-sin

Kolmar Korea Chairman Yoon Dong-han has published his fourth history-management essay, "Yi Sun-sin's Great Management."

A launch event for the book was held Thursday at El Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul, according to Kolmar Korea. Attendees included former Korea Institute for Advanced Studies President Lee Tae-jin, Daegu Catholic University President Sung Han-gi and Assembly member Shin Dong-wook. Former National Assembly Speakers Chung Sye-kyun and Kim Jin-pyo, along with JK Film director Yoon Je-kyun, delivered congratulatory video messages.

The book distills what Yoon calls "Yi Sun-sin management" — lessons he absorbed over 36 years of building Kolmar Korea into a large business group. It reinterprets the Joseon admiral's achievements from a business leader's perspective, centering on the principles of preparedness and leadership through listening.

Yoon introduced South Korea's first cosmetics original development manufacturing, or ODM, business model in 1990 and has since grown Kolmar Korea into a global beauty and healthcare company. He credits the spirit of Yi Sun-sin as the foundation of that growth, applying the admiral's philosophy directly to management. He has particularly emphasized the importance of research and development, drawing a parallel to Yi's transformation of the panokseon warship into the iconic turtle ship.

Yoon has also worked to spread Yi Sun-sin's legacy more broadly. In 2017, he established the Seoul Yeohae Foundation — a nonprofit named after Yi's courtesy name, "Yeohae" — which runs a program called Yi Sun-sin School for executives and employees of small and midsize companies. The program promotes Yi's leadership philosophy and trains specialists, and has now produced more than 1,000 cumulative graduates.

Yoon previously published "General Jeong Geol, Active Duty at 80" in 2019 and "The Mother Who Protected Joseon" in 2022. In 2023, he supported the translation and publication of "Yi Chungmugong Jeonseo" into modern Korean. In 2024, he earned a doctorate from the graduate school of Daegu Catholic University's Yi Sun-sin studies department with a dissertation on Yi's victory strategies using the geographical advantages of Gohado and Gogeumdo, continuing his research into the admiral.

"After a lifetime of building a company and studying Yi Sun-sin, my conclusion is that he deserves to be called the greatest manager in the history of the Korean Peninsula," Yoon said. "Through this book, I hope that 'small heroes' who carry on the management spirit of Chungmugong will continue to emerge in this land."