Play-with-Korea

Strong performances through crisis put Korea’s owner-management model in limelight


Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee (third from left) walks with his wife Hong Ra-hee (second from left); eldest daughter Lee Boo-jin (left), senior vice president of Hotel Shilla; the youngest daughter Lee Seo-hyun (third from right), senior vice president of Cheil Industries; and only son and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong (right) during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Yonhap News


The Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s put Korea’s family-owned business groups on the line. Some of the biggest firms crumbled and broke up under heavy debt. Their reckless expansion and overinvestment were blamed for the national meltdown and their corrupt relations with the government and opaque governance triggered public uproar.

Ten years later, things look very different. Samsung, Hyundai, LG and other leading industrial giants emerged robustly, expanding their presence in the global markets and helping the nation weather the biggest global slowdown since the 1930s.