World Courant
As of 2023, there are 82 chaebols in South Korea. These are conglomerates normally run by a single household, with whole property of greater than 5 trillion Korean received ($3.69 billion).
And gross sales of the highest 10, together with Samsung, Hyundai and LG, accounted for almost 60% of South Korea’s GDP in 2021, or greater than a trillion {dollars}.
These sprawling enterprise dynasties have helped remodel South Korea’s economic system from one of many poorest within the Sixties to one of many world’s largest exporters.
Tae-Ho Bark, president of the Lee & Ko World Commerce Institute, who additionally served as South Korea’s commerce minister from 2011 to 2013, instructed CNBC in an interview that the policymaking of Park Chung-Hee, South Korea’s first president Korea, is seen because the origin of the Korean conglomerate.
“(Chaebols) has finished job for the nation,” he mentioned. “Additionally they created a number of jobs for the individuals.”
Regardless of this exceptional progress, there’s a name for change and innovation to maneuver South Korea ahead, as a consequence of anti-chaebol sentiment fueled by corruption and monetary scandals involving the leaders of conglomerates akin to Samsung and LG.
CNBC reached out to a number of chaebols for remark, however none responded.
Sang-in Park, an economics professor at Seoul Nationwide College, mentioned South Korea’s speedy financial progress has contributed to the unchecked energy of Korea’s chaebols.
“Due to monetary liberalization, Korean large chaebols can finance themselves, with the assistance of insurance coverage corporations and safety corporations,” he mentioned. “They grew to become very unbiased of the affect of the coverage itself or of the management of the bureaucrats.”
Watch the video to be taught extra in regards to the historical past and way forward for South Korea’s main enterprise teams.
