🇰🇷 5 Chaebol family, who hold power in the South Korean economy

🇰🇷 5 The Chaebol Family, the South Korean Economic Authority: A More Complicated Story Than Many Thought

When it comes to South Korea's economic success, many people often think of giant conglomerates like Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK and Lotte as part of a system called "Chaebol," or a large family business group that has a huge influence on the country's economy.

However, the Chaebol story did not begin with President Park Jung-hee alone.

The truth is, many companies have roots since before the Korean War, and some were born during the period when the Korean Peninsula was under the rule of the Japanese Empire from 1910-1945. A number of these business founders grew and operated under the colonial economy, which has caused historical to-date debate about the relationship between Korean capital and the Japanese Empire.

What Puck Chung-hee did after the 1961 coup was not to build Chaebol from scratch, but to selectively support a group of potential businesses through low-interest loans, tax incentives, and aggressive export policies, so that these companies grew from domestic businesses to global brands.

Many have also noted that the Chaebol model is influenced by Japan's Zaibatsu, a large family of capital that played a major role before World War II. Although the two systems are so similar that they use the same Chinese character (), the Korean Chaebol developed in a different economic and political context.

In retrospect, the South Korean economic miracle is not caused by a free market alone, nor is it by a unilateral state either, but the result of a combination of visionary states, large business groups, you can share it in a more nuanced and historically grounded way like this:

🇰🇷 5 The Chaebol Family, the South Korean Economic Authority: A More Complicated Story Than Many Thought

When it comes to South Korea's economic success, many people often think of giant conglomerates like Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK and Lotte as part of a system called "Chaebol," or a large family business group that has a huge influence on the country's economy.

However, the Chaebol story did not begin with President Park Jung-hee alone.

The truth is, many companies have roots since before the Korean War, and some were born during the period when the Korean Peninsula was under the rule of the Japanese Empire from 1910-1945. A number of these business founders grew and operated under the colonial economy, which has caused historical to-date debate about the relationship between Korean capital and the Japanese Empire.

What Puck Chung-hee did after the 1961 coup was not to build Chaebol from scratch, but to selectively support a group of potential businesses through low-interest loans, tax incentives, and aggressive export policies, so that these companies grew from domestic businesses to global brands.

Many have also noted that the Chaebol model is influenced by Japan's Zaibatsu, a large family of capital that played a major role before World War II. Although the two systems are so similar that they use the same Chinese character (), the Korean Chaebol developed in a different economic and political context.

In retrospect, the South Korean economic miracle is not caused by a free market alone, nor is it by the state unilaterally either, but the result of a combination of visionary states, large business groups, enormous investment in the education and human capital systems, foreign technology transfer, as well as decades of ongoing export strategy.

In the 1960s-1980s, South Korea threw resources so seriously into basic education, science, engineering and vocational education that it was able to create a skilled workforce to support the growth of heavy industry, electronics and later advanced technology.

This point is very important. Because many people see South Korea as getting richer because of Samsung or Hyundai, but in fact, Samsung and Hyundai are made possible because South Korea created "people" first.

If synthesis is a lesson for Thailand in 2026, I think the biggest lesson from Chaebol is not to build a giant company, but

"The state, the business sector and the education system have been going in the same direction for decades."

Which is what South Korea, Japan and now China have consistently done more than many developing countries.

So, the explanation that "Puck Jung-hee created Chaebol" may be too simple for historical reality.

But to say, "Puck Chung-hee is the leader who turned a local business group into a global business empire," it would be closer to the facts.

# SouthKorea # Chaebol # Samsung # EconomicHistory # BusinessStrategy

Inspired by: When to be rich /