In 2016, a student named Zheng Weiluo of Ewha Womans University in South Korea succeeded in pit his mother on his own, not only arresting his mother Choi Soonsil, but also causing South Korean President Park Geun-hye to fall into the crisis of "girlfriend in politics", and then even did not keep the presidential throne.
Zheng Weiluo not only pulled the president off the horse, but also popularized the concept of "Korean chaebol" to everyone.
Because just after Park Geun-hye was impeached and removed from office, she was immediately arrested and imprisoned and prosecuted, and the reason she was prosecuted was political and business collusion.
At the same time, Lee Jae-yong, the "prince" of South Korea's Samsung Group, was also arrested, which undoubtedly explained to everyone who the "businessman" who colluded with Park Geun-hye was.
Singaporeans may not understand this, but South Koreans are used to seeing it, because before that, Samsung Group has repeatedly manipulated politics with money.
Only when you are in South Korea and have personally experienced South Korea under the control of chaebols can you know the harm of chaebols to a country.
The beginning of chaebol politics in South Korea
The rise of South Korea's chaebols is synchronized with the rise of the Korean economy, and from another perspective, the development of the Korean economy is inseparable from the chaebols.
After the Korean War, South Korea's industries were in ruins, and Seoul was almost in ruins during the war, and by 1961, South Korea's per capita annual GDP was only $100.
When Park's father, Park Chung-hee, staged a military coup to seize power from Rhee, the most pressing issue he faced was improving the South Korean economy.
According to the situation faced by South Korea at that time, Park Chung-hee chose an "export-led" economic strategy, using the export processing industry to drive the country's economy.
However, South Korea was previously a country dominated by agriculture, and after the war, the already weak industrial system in the country was seriously damaged, and how to develop industry was also a big problem.
Because South Korea had been occupied by Japan for a long time, and Park Chung-hee himself had served as a soldier in Japan, he chose to learn from the Japanese model.
This model is that the government vigorously supports some powerful private enterprises in the country, so that the development of these enterprises will drive the development of the country's economy.
Park Chung-hee focused industrial development on technology-intensive industries such as shipbuilding, electronics, machinery, steel, and automobiles.
He regarded these industries as core industries, and selected one or two private enterprises from each of these industrial fields as the targets of vigorous government support for development.
From site selection to capital and transportation, the state has given strong support to these selected enterprises.
The results of this model have been amazing.
South Korea's per capita gross domestic product, which was only $100 in 1961, jumped to $1,745 in 1979.
In addition to wealth, many developed countries even took hundreds of years to complete the industrial structure upgrade, and South Korea caught up in just a few years.
South Korea's development momentum has given birth to a new name in the economics community: the Seoul miracle, and South Korea has also become one of the "four Asian tigers" with this momentum of development.
Although supporting private enterprises has allowed South Korea's economy to develop rapidly, the drawbacks of this model are also obvious.
When a country's economic lifeline is in private hands, politics will inevitably become the plaything of capital, which is an eternal truth.
Capital influences politics, and the most familiar routine is political and business collusion and corruption, and enterprises that have tasted political dividends will definitely know the essence.
The capital that has grown with government support is more comfortable spending money, and Park Chung-hee is aware of this, so he launched an anti-corruption campaign during his tenure.
There is an old saying in China that cutting off people's wealth is like killing parents, so the anti-corruption Park Chung-hee was soon assassinated and killed, but it was two bodyguards around him who replaced him as president.
It was also his cronies who assassinated him.
This slightly ironic scene also reflects how arrogant South Korea's chaebols had become at that time.
Now there is a joke when it comes to the South Korean president in China, that is, almost none of the South Korean presidents can retreat with their whole body.
This is also the characteristic of South Korea's chaebol economy: intertwined with money and power, a few people can start and end well.
Among the chaebols that influence the South Korean regime, Samsung Group will always be the largest and most conspicuous one.
Samsung's capital politics
When it comes to Samsung Group in China, the most familiar is Samsung mobile phones, in 2022, the global market share of Samsung mobile phones is 22%, and Apple is 74%.
However, mobile phone manufacturing is only one of the businesses of the Samsung Group, which covers electronics, finance, chemistry and machinery.
The Samsung Group, which has a huge business empire, was just a small rice shop at the beginning, and the reason why it was able to develop and grow later was inseparable from a friend made by founder Li Bingzhe in his early years.
This person is South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee.
He has a close relationship with the president, and what business he does is not easy to capture, so the main reason for the rise of Samsung is not all because of Li Bingzhe's unique vision, but that he has Rhee Syngman, a friend.
However, Rhee did not help him for a few years, and was ousted by force by Park Chung-hee.
As a businessman close to Rhee, Park Chung-hee naturally did not forget Lee Byung-cheol and gave him a fine of 800 million won as a meeting gift from his new president to Rhee Byung-cheol.
It is the nature of businessmen to seek profit and avoid harm, and after receiving the "gift", Lee Bingzhe hurriedly broke the wealth and eliminated the disaster, and at the same time immediately surrendered to Park Chung-hee, and soon exchanged for Park Chung-hee's support and protection.
Park Chung-hee saw that Lee Byung-cheol was so knowledgeable, so he discarded his previous suspicions and instead cooperated with Lee Byung-cheol to start a business of smuggling saccharin raw materials.
And Samsung Group, which has considerable strength, has also become one of the enterprises supported by the government because of Park Chung-hee's recognition.
Lee Byung-cheol took advantage of the rapid development of South Korea's economy to develop Samsung Group into a leading chaebol in South Korea.
Li Bingzhe was replaced by the third son, Li Kunxi. Lee Kun-hee's son inherited his father's business and also had a deep "cooperation" with the government.
However, by his generation, Samsung has a greater appetite, and his cooperation has reached a national event such as wanting to participate in the presidential election.
In 1997, South Korea broke a recording in which Samsung Group planned to provide a gift of 30 trillion won to Lee Hoe-chang, the presidential candidate of the Grand National Party, before the South Korean presidential election, to help him run for president.
The 90-minute recording was overheard by South Korea's Ministry of National Security Planning while South Korean Ambassador to the United States Hong Seok-hyun was chatting with Lee Hak-so, vice chairman of Samsung Group.
Afterwards, Hong Seok-hyun was forced to resign as ambassador, and Samsung pushed Lee Ha-so out as a scapegoat.
Although they barely calmed the discussion, Samsung never stopped wanting to get involved in politics.
In 2007, Lee was reported by Kim Yong-chol, a lawyer who used to work for Samsung Group, that Samsung Group paid bribes to high-level officials such as the government, parliament and judiciary.
This well-documented report did not yield a fair result. Lee Kun-hee was sentenced to three years in prison for "tax evasion," suspended for five years, and lightly let go of bribery.
And just a few months after the verdict was handed down, Lee was pardoned by then-South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
This dramatic scene vividly shows the influence of chaebols in South Korea.
"Three stars of iron, president of flowing water" is not an empty phrase in South Korea.
South Korea under Samsung's control
Some people ridicule that South Koreans have three inevitable things in their lives: death, taxes, and Samsung.
In addition to the civilian and commercial fields, Samsung's tentacles have also reached the military industry, and South Korea's defense weapons include aircraft, artillery, tanks and warships, almost all of which are made by the Samsung Group.
Behind such a huge industry is Samsung's extreme exploitation of Koreans. How many Koreans can't live without Samsung, how much they hate Samsung in their hearts.
Samsung provides jobs for most South Koreans, but it is also taking their lives and squeezing their labor.
In August 2016, foreign media revealed that more than 200 employees in a Samsung semiconductor factory suffered from diseases such as blood cancer and lymphoma, and at least 76 people died as a result.
Most of these deaths were young people between the ages of 20 and 30.
This incident was first discovered in 2007.
There is a girl named Huang Yumin, who entered a semiconductor factory under Samsung in 2003, and the work content for this little girl is also very simple, that is, cleaning semiconductors with chemicals.
However, not long after working, Huang Yumin suddenly fell ill, often dizzy and nauseous, and only learned that she was suffering from leukemia, and after hospitalization, she died of illness in 2007.
After Huang Yumin's father investigated the cause of his daughter, he believed that it was the harsh environment of Samsung's semiconductor factory that caused his daughter to suffer from leukemia.
While defending his daughter's rights, Huang Yumin's father discovered that more than 320 workers in the same factory had fallen ill and 118 had died.
In the face of this staggering figure, the head of the factory was not only unmoved, but also manipulated the domestic media and suppressed the relevant news reports.
In this way, the facts are gradually covered up and forgotten.
But sometimes when there are things that cannot be hidden, Samsung's consistent approach is to use money to buy the families of sick employees, money. In Samsung's view, "what can be solved with money is not a thing".
In the face of the continuous outbreak of vicious incidents, the South Korean government not only does not support these employees and their families to claim compensation from Samsung, but also acquiesces to Samsung's behavior.
Because of the government's protection, even if these sick employees want to claim compensation, they cannot get strong evidence and cannot get the compensation they deserve.
Although some domestic film and television organizations made the incident into a movie, Samsung Group still refused to bow its proud head, apologized to workers and families, and paid them reasonable compensation.
Until more than ten years later, foreign media paid attention to this matter, Samsung Group's apology was long overdue, all because the South Korean government was behind the "bottom" for Samsung.
This kind of three-star behavior of manipulating the government and manipulating the media has not appeared once or twice.
The reason why the government is willing to take the lead for Samsung is because the South Korean government is firmly tied to the Samsung Group.
When Park Geun-hye was elected, she received strong support from Samsung Group.
Lee Jae-yong, the third-generation head of Samsung Group, was arrested on charges of bribing Park Geun-hye and soon released, and the South Korean judiciary sentenced Lee Jae-yong to prison has become a joke.
Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, who once wanted to "wrestle" with Samsung Group, ended up jumping off a cliff to commit suicide after leaving office because of his wife's $1 million from an unknown source.
After former South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office, he also vowed to limit the Samsung Group, but it didn't take long for the conversation to change.
This is the consequence of capital controlling the state, when the regime becomes a tool for the benefit of capital, the interests of the state, the interests of the people will be left behind.
Sadly, although Samsung uses industry monopoly and uses state power to lower workers' wages and deprive workers of their rights, South Koreans' lives are still tied to the word "Samsung", because as long as they are in South Korea, they cannot get rid of this largest chaebol.
epilogue
The fundamental reason why the chaebols cannot be allowed to control politics is that the state represents the interests of the broadest masses of the people, while capital represents the exact opposite, the interests of a very small number of people.