“Every Place We Have Not Been Is the Future”: Gwanghwamun Message Welcomes Autumn

“Every place we have not been is the future / The person we did not meet that day, too / A few pages of the book we did not read.”

Kyobo Life Insurance used the lines from Lee Mun-jae’s poem “Shangri-La” for its new autumn Gwanghwamun message. The company said the text encourages people to keep trying and move toward the future, even when they have not yet achieved everything they hoped to do.

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Every place we have not been is the future / The person we did not meet that day, too / A few pages of the book we did not read.

The design came from Jeong Ho-yoon of Sejong University, winner of the top prize in a university student design competition. Jeong said the blank future was represented as a white sketchbook, while children drawing their dreams expressed its possibilities.

The Gwanghwamun message has presented messages about hope and love to the public since 1991. This autumn edition will be displayed until the end of November at the Kyobo Life Insurance Building in Gwanghwamun, Kyobo Tower in Gangnam and the company’s Jeju office.

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We wanted to express the future that has not yet been drawn as a white sketchbook, and show its limitless possibilities through children freely drawing their dreams.