YU Dokdo Lab held groundbreaking ceremony of the ‘Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden’ on the 18th
Fostered with development funds donated by co-presidents of Round Lab Lee Young-hak and Jung Seo-rin
30 million KRW handed over to Dokdo Lab on the 18th... Total 60 million KRW donated
[May 18, 2020]
<YU Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden groundbreaking ceremony>
YU (President Sur Gil-soo) will open the nation's first ‘Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden’ on campus.
YU held the the Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden at the garden next to the University HQ Building on the 18th. The YU Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden was built using development funds donated to the YU Dokdo Lab by Round Lab co-presidents Lee Young-hak and Jung Seo-rin. Prior to the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden held in the morning of the 18th, Lee Young-hak and Jung Seo-rin of Round Lab handed over 30 million KRW to YU asking to use the funds for research and education related to Dokdo. The co-presidents visited YU in April and donated 30 million KRW saying that they wanted to contribute to the Dokdo wild vegetation and ecosystem research activities, and when combined with past donations, they donated a total of 60 million KRW to the YU Dokdo Lab.
<From second from left, Co-president Lee Young-hak, YU President Sur Gil-soo, Co-president Jung Seo-rin>
At this groundbreaking ceremony were present YU President Sur Gil-soo, Dokdo Lab Director Choi Jae-mok, YU Department of Biotechnology Professor Park Seon-joo, who is an expert of the Dokdo ecosystem, and co-presidents of Round Lab Lee Young-hak and Jeong Seo-rin. Round Lab, which is a cosmetic product manufacturing and distribution company, launched Dokdo-related products which have been received warmly by general consumers. Their most famous products are Dokdo-related cosmetic products named ‘1025’ that branded Dokdo Day (October 25) such as ‘1025 Dokdo Toner’ and ‘1025 Dokdo Cleanser’.
Co-president Lee Young-hak said, “I am very happy to be able to contribute to the establishment of the ‘Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden’ at YU, which is a leader in Dokdo-related research. I hope that this will be used as a place to preserve the biological resources of our island Dokdo, and be used for education to learn about the beauties of its ecosystem without actually going to Dokdo.
YU will establish the Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden on a 500 square meter area nex tot the University HQ Building. Of the 57 wild vegetation that grow in Dokdo, 5-6 species will be planted first such as Aster spathulifolius Maxim, Campanula takesimana, Sedum takesimense Nakai, Arabis stelleri, and Sedum oryzifolium Makino, and continue to increase the number of species every year. Also, a 661 square meter Dokdo Wild Vegetation seedbed center will be operated near the east gate of campus.
The YU Dokdo Lab intends to use the Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden for education on Dokdo’s wild vegetation and environment for the general public as well as elementary, middle and high school students. YU currently operates the ‘Dokdo Archives’ on the 6th floor of the Central Library and a ‘Natural Museum’ was established at the College of Natural Sciences where visitors can see samples of Dokdo wildlife and vegetation. In particular, over 2,000 elementary, middle and high school students visit the ‘Dokdo Archives’ operated by the YU Dokdo Lab every year, and therefore, it is expected that the Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden will also be highly used.
YU Dokdo Lab Director Choi Jae-mok (Professor of Philosophy) said, “We were able to build the Dokdo Wild Vegetation Botanical Garden thanks to the generous support of Round Lab. This botanical garden will be important research resources for Dokdo researchers and it will provide indirect experiences of Dokdo to studetns and citizens visiting YU, and will also be a place for education to share the value of Dokdo.”
Meanwhile, a work MOU agreement ceremony was held between YU and Round Lab as well. The two institutes agreed to mutually exchange human and material resources for joint development, share contents related to industry-academic cooperation, lifelong learning, and arts and culture, and gather their capacities to pursue relevant projects.
