305 workplaces certified for promoting reading; Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) wins the Grand Prize for Reading Management

[Financial News] A total of 305 companies and institutions that promote a culture of reading in the workplace have been certified this year as outstanding workplaces for reading management. This is the largest number since the program was introduced, and book-purchase support will also be expanded to all certified institutions.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on the 22nd that it had certified 305 workplaces as 2026 Outstanding Workplaces for Reading Management in partnership with the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea. Of these, 88 were newly certified, 124 retained their existing certification, and 93 were recertified. The total was up by 28 from 277 last year.
Introduced in 2014, the certification program selects companies and institutions that promote a culture of reading by assessing workplace reading environments, activities and outcomes. The Reading Culture Promotion Act stipulates that the national and local governments must develop policies to encourage reading activities in the workplace.
Since last year, newly certified companies and institutions have maintained their certification for three years and undergone annual interim reviews.
This year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is expanding eligibility for book-purchase support from newly certified small and medium-sized enterprises to all certified institutions. It will provide support for each institution to purchase books worth 500,000 won from local bookstores. The ministry also plans to support visiting book concerts, reading-management consulting and book-club operating expenses.
Sixteen outstanding institutions will be selected from among those certified and receive awards. The Grand Prize, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award, will go to KHNP. Last year, 95% of its employees took part in the reading education program “Book Learning,” while 390 teams in the reading-based learning organization “Runners” applied knowledge gained from books to solving problems in the field and identified 30 exemplary cases.
Five institutions will receive the top excellence award: Nepes, the Small and Medium Business Technology Information Promotion Agency, the Cheongju Welfare Foundation, Kolmar Holdings and Techville Education. Nepes used an AI-powered reading app to share reading records and linked the reading habit program “i-Training” to performance evaluations. The Cheongju Welfare Foundation ran “Good Morning! Book Morning,” a program in which employees read together for 30 minutes after arriving at work, without work-related communications.
Since 2006, Kolmar Holdings has factored a reading-credit system into its promotion evaluations. The Small and Medium Business Technology Information Promotion Agency opened special lectures by authors to local residents and small and medium-sized enterprises, while Techville Education’s CEO led monthly reading discussions for executives.
Ten institutions, including the Gyeongnam Credit Guarantee Foundation, will receive the Excellence Award. Eleven institutions that have maintained their certification for at least 10 years, including Zenith Hospital, Korea Southern Power and the Nowon District Office, will receive plaques of merit.
The certification and awards ceremony will be held this afternoon at the International Conference Hall of the National Library of Korea in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Presentations on exemplary cases and a lecture by writer Song Gil-Young, author of the “Forecast of the Times” series, are also scheduled.
[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter