From the president

Rotary Club of Busan

Inaugural address

Good day. I am Andrew Seo Dong-gyun, beginning another year as the 75th and 76th president of the Rotary Club of Busan. Governor In San, distinguished guests, and everyone who has joined this historic meeting: thank you.

The Rotary Club of Busan has carried 91 years of service. It is the oldest club south of Seoul, and the second oldest Rotary club in the Republic of Korea.

Sister Park Bulkeria, superior of the Aloysius Sisters of Mary, who has witnessed Busan Rotary’s service and is with us today, can say this as well: long before the idea of service was widely known, Busan Rotary quietly stood with neighbors in need.

When the country was weak and many people were struggling, leading figures in each field gathered with a sense of noblesse oblige. This club is where they practiced service: not a world in which only we prosper, but a world we live in together.

We who follow them are doing our best to continue that service. The scale, passion, and devotion of the members before us were greater than we can easily match.

Every story has a season of prosperity and a season of difficulty. Busan Rotary has passed through a hard season. I can say this today with pride: we are bringing the first hundred years, written by those who came before us, to a worthy close, and we are preparing the second act, our own next hundred years.

Busan Rotary took its first step on 15 May 1935. In nine years, in 2035, we will mark our centennial. In 2029–30, Haejeong Kim Hyun-gyeom, a past president of this club and chairman of Panstar Group, is expected to run for governor of District 3661.

Jungbo Seo Jeong-ui, our 55th president and the 44th governor of District 3661, a pillar of this club, left us last autumn. His eldest son, Seo Min-jae of Hwashin Shipping and Air Group, has joined us and is helping to fill that place. Attorney Shin Jeong-mu of Law Firm Kukje and Kim Cheol-ung of Choa Mutual Aid have also joined this service, together with other leaders of the city.

Others have quietly stepped aside so the dots can connect, and the past can meet the future. Change begins with people. That change has begun, quietly and for certain.

Because of the members, the committee chairs, and the past presidents, the club’s finances have recovered a stable base, and the good change continues.

Dear Busan Rotarians, you have waited a long time. A calm stretch ends, and the current can turn suddenly. The current has turned.

Over the nine years that remain, let us finish the story left to us, and write our own next hundred years together. More than 100 members. A club service fund of more than one billion won. It can be done.

In 2026–2027, carry the present and the future of Busan Rotary with me. Thank you.

Congratulatory remarks

Members of the Rotary Club of Busan, and distinguished guests: good day. I am Park Young-tae, governor of Rotary International District 3661 for 2026–27.

I honor President Andrew Seo Dong-gyun for a year in which he brought honor to the Rotary Club of Busan, a source of pride for Rotary in Korea. I congratulate him on taking up a second term as the club’s 76th president, and I look forward to the energy he brings to the next step.

Since its chartering in 1935, the Rotary Club of Busan has been at the center of Rotary’s story in Korea for 91 years. Through the years before and after liberation, and up to today, the service, friendship, and leadership kept by this club have shown what a leading club in Korea looks like. Sponsoring so many younger clubs, including South Busan, East Busan, Ulsan, and Jinju, and spreading Rotary across the country, is one of District 3661’s greatest sources of pride.

Members who have carried the club’s history in person, including Jayun Kim Dong-hwan, Jungsoo Shin Han-chun, Haejeong Kim Hyun-gyeom, and Hyomin Kim Jeong-mun, are the club’s living history and its most valuable treasure. I offer deep respect to every Rotarian who received the founders’ spirit and built the Busan Rotary of today.

The Rotary International theme for 2026–27 is Create Lasting Impact. Service is not only a result for the present. It is a good change that remains for the next generation and for the community. President Andrew Seo Dong-gyun, who takes the helm of Busan Rotary for another year, I ask you to open the club’s next chapter: member fellowship and growth, and service that can last, grounded in the leadership this club already has.

I also welcome the new members who join today. You have not merely joined a club. You have become part of the Rotary Club of Busan, and you are carrying a page of Rotary’s history in Korea. Receive the tradition and the name built before you, practice Service Above Self, and grow into Rotarians who are a good influence at home and abroad.

Many clubs have a long history. Few create a new value ahead of their time. I ask the Rotary Club of Busan to keep leading Rotary in Korea, as it has for 91 years, and to carry District 3661 forward with serious leadership and service put into practice.