Kim Woo-jung

Kim Woo-jung was a South Korean businessman who founded and led the Daewoo Group, one of the largest chaebols (conglomerates) in the country. He was born in Daegu in 1936, the son of a provincial governor. He graduated from Kyunggi High School and Yonsei University with a degree in economics. He started his career in a small trading company that dealt with textiles and clothing. He left the company and established Daewoo Industries with five other associates in 1967. He expanded the company rapidly by acquiring near-bankrupt firms and diversifying into various sectors, such as automobiles, electronics, shipbuilding, construction, and finance. He also invested heavily in overseas markets, making Daewoo the most globalized of all Korean chaebols. By the late 1990s, Daewoo Group had more than 300,000 employees and over 100 subsidiaries in about 100 countries. However, the company also accumulated a huge amount of debt and suffered from poor management and accounting practices. When the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997, Daewoo Group was unable to repay its creditors and faced bankruptcy. The government intervened and forced Kim to sell off most of his assets and restructure the remaining ones. Kim refused to cooperate and fled the country in 1999, leaving behind a debt of about US$50 billion. He was charged with fraud, embezzlement, and foreign exchange violations. He lived in hiding for six years, mostly in Vietnam, until he returned to South Korea in 2005. He was arrested and put on trial, where he admitted his responsibility for the collapse of Daewoo and apologized to the nation. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2006, but he was pardoned by President Roh Moo-hyun in 2007. He spent his later years writing books and giving lectures on business and life. He died of pneumonia at the age of 82 in 2019. He was survived by his wife and four sons.