"Must we really let beggars into our house?" The rest of the family complained, but the founder's mother handed out food for beggars.

The founder Suh Sung-whan (pen name Jangwon, 1924–2003) was the second son of his mother, Yun Dok-jeong, and had two brothers and three sisters. His family moved to Kaesong when he was just seven years old with his mother, who could see how the world and people were changing. Honest and forthright, Yun Dok-jeong was an able woman who worked hard to support the family. She bought lamp oil, pigment and hair oil from a wholesale dealer in the thriving industrial city of Kaesong and sold them on at a profit. Yet, once she had done well in that pursuit, she wanted to take the next logical step forward by starting her own business. She decided to make and sell camellia hair oil, which was an essential item back then for women who wanted to pamper their silky black hair.

Most important was having good ingredients and, thanks to the trust that she had built up with the merchants who traveled the country selling their wares, she was able to source high-quality camellia fruits. Then, there was manufacturing. The secret of making great hair oil that stood out in the market was her exquisite sense of touch, business appearance and attitude, combined with continuous practice. Starting from a position of trustworthiness, her camellia oil went nationwide through word-of-mouth.

She marked the words "Changseong-dang" on products she made. At that time, the word dang was used to denote only the finest cosmetics. Changseong-dang thus represented a tremendous statement of confidence in the quality of the cosmetics she made at her Changseong Store.

The founder of AMOREPACIFIC Suh Sung-whan graduated Junggyeong Primary School aged 16 and decided to take up the family business, rather than going on to complete high-school. His first role was sourcing ingredients and materials. It was time when almost all resources in Korea were scarce and entrepreneurs could chiefly differentiate themselves through their ability to source materials. Yun Dok-jeong entrusted the task of purchasing good ingredients from Namdaemun Market to his son, Suh Sung-whan.

On market day, Suh Sung-whan would get on his bicycle, making sure to leave home before sunrise with three lunch boxes – one for breakfast when dawn broke, one after doing his job and one on his way back home. While shuttling back and forth between Kaesong and Namdaemun carrying his three lunch boxes, he saw it all – from tilled soil to great gusts of wind, from families making a living to school teachers returning home. It was in fact these journeys that opened up him the wider world outside his home.

Last September, the biography of AMOREPACIFIC's founder Suh Sung-whan was published, titled Cosmetics would still be my purpose, even in another life. For global members of AMOREPACIFIC, News Square will introduce the summary of the book in 10 chapters.