▲ President Sohn Gyeong-chan

Jewels are dreams of people. They are the desires, the possessiveness and the enchantment. And undoubtedly, diamond is the queen of all jewels. Women cannot help falling in love with it and it is an everlasting brilliance of their lives. Pearl probably comes next in line. The history of the record on pearl goes back to BC 4,500 where it was found and written at Bismayah Remains. A French jewel critic Madame Dario once praised pearl as “It goes well with everybody, every clothes and at any places. Whether it is authentic or fake, a pearl should always be the first choice for your necklace.” 

Promoting Korean pearl industry
Sohn Gyeong-chan, the president of the Korean Pearl Association, is a self-made man who accomplished a great success in the pearl industry and is leading the Korean Pearl Association as the 7th president. The KPA set sail in 2004 to promote rights and interests of members of the association. 

It is notable that the pearl industry was rather divided into each different field such as farming, processing, selling and appraise which made it difficult to put them under one single organization. But the KPA made it happen through active and continuous exchange, support and cooperation. 

Sohn jumped into the pearl industry by chance and ran his own business under the name of Good Pearls. “Everybody feels hard in this time of economic slowdown but the jewel industry probably is the one that most affected. It is difficult for many Korean peal makers and traders to compete with price-competitive imported pearls as well as global brand powers. So the association is focusing on raising the competitiveness of Korean pearl traders through effective and efficient strategies and support.” 

Spreading high quality Korean pearls to the world
Sohn majored in law at university. He had a chance to visit Japan and opened his eye wide on possibilities of pearl industry. He bought 2,000 units of 8mm Akoya pearls and started selling. He sold them out within 3 months and with much encouragement opened Good Pearls at Jongno District, Seoul in 1999. 

He significantly increased his ability of picking up quality pearls while using spare time for building knowledge on distribution and foreign language. He made US$892,000 within the first year of opening the business and soon launched a trade firm under the name J&J. J&J made a strong presence at an auction in Japan in 2001, Indonesia in 2002, Tahiti in 2003 and Australia in 2004. 

Boosting Korean pearl industry
Sohn, who also is a member of the Korean Gem Marketing Executive Managers Association, recently passed down his business to one of his talented staff in order for him to jump into the diamond industry. “The Korean jewel industry seems to be in slump. The domestic sales are down and wedding presents are getting moderate. So we need to find a way to improve the situation.” 

He points out that the closed Korean jewel societies must open for cooperation if we are to win the competition with excellent overseas brands. “Also, there must be cooperative effort in R&D, pioneering new markets and finding profitable models in order for the Korean jewel industry to grow as a whole in this global age.”