42nd World Shooting Championships Commemorative Coins (1978)

[Verify-12]

Some of you here have shown a little interest in some of my web articles on South Korean coins, so I'll share this one, too.

This article is about the 42nd World Shooting Championships commemorative coins that were issued for the shooting event that took place in Seoul in 1978.  This shooting event was South Korea's first attempt at a large international sporting event, and was a sort of precursor to the XXIV Summer Olympics that the Koreans would host ten years later.

http://dokdo-research.com/42ndworldshooting.html

Let me know what you think!

[Figleaf]

Excellent research! I don't care for the coin, but the story - and especially the follow-up bio of Pak - held my attention. I have warned warned Dutch exporters and officials for the Korean can-do mentality, frequently based on wishful thinking, but a useful approach to get things done. I suppose the Japanese dies were of better quality, nut would the Korean-made dies have been ready in time without them?

Another story coming through is how in a dictatorship it is not merit or price that counts but loyalty and relations. This is why in the long run, military dictators will always fail their country, even if they are strongly motivated to "save" it.

Peter

[Verify-12]

From the narrative that I have concerning this, it seems that the Koreans probably would have had their pieces of tool steel and dies ready at around the same time that Toppan delivered theirs.  The Koreans would have done it anyway.  It was just that there was probably a little too much dysfunction at the Korean Mint for its chief to feel that he could get the work done in time, and therefore contracted with Toppan as an insurance policy.   The pressure on the Komsco chief at that time must have been great, and he may have felt threatened, and was afraid to anger people close to the president.