The Korean sanitation campaigner, founder and first president of the World Toilet Association (WTA), president of the Korea Toilet Association and parliament member Sim Jae-duck “Mr. Toilet”, died of prostate cancer on 14 January 2009, aged 69. He earned his nickname [1] for improving public restrooms for the 2002 Football World Cup as mayor of Suwon city.

Sim Jae-duck grabbed the headlines in November 2007 when he unveiled his toilet-shaped house on the eve of the inaugural meeting of the World Toilet Association General Assembly (WTAA). Sim was born in a restroom - in line with then-traditional beliefs that this would bring good luck - and once said he planned to die in the $1.6-million toilet house he designed.

[1] New world toilet association launches, AP News, 22 Nov 2007

Related news: Sim Jae-duck: sanitation promoter builds toilet-shaped house, Source, 10 Dec 2007

Web site:World Toilet Association (WTA)

Source: Sapa-AFP / IOL, 14 Jan 2009

Tags: east asia & pacific, hygiene promotion, on-site sanitation