Former President Moon Jae-in visited the Seoul International Book Fair held at COEX in Seoul on the 18th. It is the first time in 12 years that a former president has attended a book fair since then-President Park Geun-hye in 2013. The venue quickly became crowded.
On that day, former President Moon began his visit by checking out the 'Pyeongsan Bookstore' booth located near his home.
Pyeongsan Bookstore is a local bookstore, not a publishing house, and is selling various books from publishers at this book fair, including 'Jang Ha-joon's Economic Recipe' (Bookie), 'It Would Have Been Enough If I Gave It' (People Power), and 'Kim Dae-jung's Oral History' (Yonsei University Kim Dae-jung Library).
Former President Moon, who has been active as a 'bookstore keeper,' personally selected books and exchanged greetings with visitors. His wife, Kim Jung-sook, accompanied him, and as they toured the booth, nearby attendees responded with comments like, 'This is the first time I've seen the president in person' and 'I thought a celebrity had come.'
Former President Moon also visited the publishing hall of Taiwan, the guest of honor country at the book fair, and had conversations with representatives like Rex Hsu of the Taipei Book Foundation. He will attend the 'Best Books in Korea' award ceremony, taking place at 5 p.m. that day, and will go on stage as an award presenter and deliver a congratulatory speech.
Poet Park Seong-woo, an executive director of Pyeongsan Bookstore, said, 'We opened a booth in Seoul to express our gratitude to those who come all the way from Yangsan to buy books,' adding, 'All profits from this book fair are expected to be used for public utilities.'