Ottogi marks 10th anniversary of founder Ham Tae-ho's passing

Ottogi said Monday it held a memorial ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Honorary Chairman Ham Tae-ho.

The ceremony took place Friday at Ham Tae-ho Hall in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. It was organized to reflect on the life and legacy of Ham, who founded Ottogi and helped drive the development of South Korea's food industry, and to reaffirm his management philosophy.

Born in Wonsan, South Hamgyong Province, in 1930, Ham set out to improve the lives of ordinary Koreans through the food industry and in 1969 established Punglim Trading, the predecessor to Ottogi. Starting with Ottogi Curry, the company went on to introduce a wide range of products — soups, ketchup, mayonnaise and vinegar among them — helping to shape and advance Korean food culture.

As a business leader, Ham placed quality above all else, insisting that products be made "with the mindset that this is food our own family will eat." He held firm to a philosophy of contributing to national development through better food, and to the belief that "a company must give back to the country." Company traditions such as flying the national flag at factories and singing the national anthem at internal events trace their origins to that conviction.

Ham also led a quiet life of giving. In 1992 he began sponsoring children with congenital heart disease through the Korea Heart Foundation, and in 1996 he laid the groundwork for the Ham Tae-ho Foundation, which has since supported scholarships and academic research. Through the heart disease sponsorship program, a total of 6,783 children had received life-saving support as of August this year.

Ham's management philosophy lives on as the corporate spirit of Ottogi today. Guided by its founding mission of contributing to the improvement of human dietary life and health, the company continues to pursue better taste and quality while sustaining a range of social contribution activities.

This year, Ottogi opened a heritage space called Ham Tae-ho Hall at its Anyang factory, dedicated to the founder's life and philosophy as well as the history of Ottogi and Korean food culture. The space is part of the company's effort to pass the founder's spirit on to future generations.

"We will carry forward the founder's vision of 'Punglim' — contributing to the improvement of human dietary life — and work harder to keep moving forward rather than resting on what we have achieved," said Ham Young-joon, chairman of Ottogi.