Recently, Forbes released the 2020 Korea Rich List, and Samsung Lee Ken Hee ranked first, the richest man in South Korea.
Although Samsung, which is known as South Korea's first chaebol, is "thriving", after comparing with the Korean rich list for many years, it shows that with the rise of the new economy, new industries and new formats, the influence of those chaebol families in the past has gradually turned from prosperity to decline, and South Korean rich people are in the midst of a big reshuffle.
The wealth curve of the top riches indicates that the proportion of south Korean economy is changing
Samsung Lee Ishik hee is the richest man in Korea in 2020
On July 9, Forbes released the 2020 List of South Korea's Richest People, with Lee Kin-hee, the 78-year-old former chairman of South Korea's Samsung Group, topping the list again with $17.3 billion. Lee's 52-year-old son, heir to Samsung and vice president of Samsung Electronics, lee Jae-yong, ranked No. 4 with a fortune of $6.7 billion.
In the 2019 annual list, Samsung Lee Kin Hee and Lee Jae Yong's net worth are 16.8 billion US dollars and 6.1 billion US dollars respectively, and their wealth is growing and the ranking has not changed.
The latest list of South Korea's richest people, the total wealth of the 50 top South Korean rich people is $110.8 billion, compared to last year's $110 billion, little change. However, the threshold for making the list this year has been reduced from $855 million in the previous year to $610 million, which partly reflects the challenges faced by most companies in South Korea.
Compared with the previous year's rich list, 29 of the richest people on the list have shrunk in wealth. The saddest was pharmaceutical tycoon Lim Sung-ki, whose fortunes shrank by 44 percent and made the list at $1.4 billion. Mr. Lin, 80, made the list last year with a fortune of $2.5 billion.
Zheng Mengjiu, the second-generation head of Hyundai Motor
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and external environment, the stock price of Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, has fallen sharply this year, and Hyundai Motor's mong-koo chung's wealth has shrunk by 26% to $3.2 billion, down three places to 8th. According to the previously released financial report data, the number of Hyundai motor product sales hit a 10-year low.
On March 19 this year, Hyundai Motor Company issued a notice saying that Zheng Yixuan, chief vice president of Hyundai Motor, has been appointed as the new chairman of Hyundai Motor. Chung eui-sun is the only son of Hyundai Motor's chairman, Zheng Mengjiu, which means that Hyundai Motor has officially taken over from the second generation to the third generation.
Zheng Mengjiu, 82, is the second son of Zheng Zhouyong, the founder of Hyundai Group. Zheng Zhouyong had eight sons and a daughter, and Zheng Zhouyong, who was deeply influenced by Confucianism, also followed the primogeniture system in choosing an heir. In 1982, the eldest son Zheng Mengbi, who was expected to become the successor, died in a car accident, and the fourth son, Zheng Mengyu, also committed suicide in 1990, and the most promising of the six sons, the second son Zheng Mengjiu, the fifth son Zheng Mengxian, and the sixth son Zheng Mengzhun, launched a wave of struggle for the throne.
In order to quell the dispute, Zheng Zhouyong had no choice but to split the Hyundai Group into three; among them, Zheng Mengxian was the chairman of Hyundai Group, Zheng Mengjiu was the chairman of Hyundai Motor, and Zheng Mengzhun was responsible for Hyundai Heavy Industries and its subsidiaries. Although the "three-point world" has solved the heir dispute, it is also due to the decline in competitiveness after the split, and the modern system is far inferior to the three galaxies in the future.
Zheng Yixuan, the new president of Hyundai Motor and the only son of Zheng Mengjiu (middle)
On the 2020 South Korean Rich List released this time, Hyundai Motor's new president, Zheng Mengjiu's only son, the 49-year-old Zheng Yixuan, is worth $1.95 billion. His sixth uncle, 68-year-old Zheng Mengzhun, made the list with a fortune of $900 million.
In contrast, in addition to Lee Kin Hee and Lee Jae-yong' father and son, Lee Kin Hee's eldest daughter, Samsung's "eldest princess" and 49-year-old president of the Shilla Hotel, Lee Fu-jin, is on the list with a wealth of $1.68 billion. Her sister, Lee Kin-hee's second daughter, Lee Su-hyun, 46, executive vice president of First Wool weaving and vice president of South Korea's Samsung Group, is worth $1.5 billion.
Samsung, known as The First Chaebol in South Korea, has a pivotal position and influence. Many people joke that South Koreans can't do three things in their lives — death, taxes and Samsung. In South Korea, about a quarter of corporate assets are controlled by the ten largest families, with Samsung controlling nearly 20 percent of South Korea's GDP. Judging from the ranking of the rich list and the wealth on the list, Samsung still has a dominant position, and it is difficult for others to shake it for a while.
Kim Jung-ju, founder of online game company Nexon
Observing all kinds of rich lists, it is not necessary to stare at those cold and cold numbers, but to gain insight into the trend of the economy and the industry from the changes in the numbers.
Similarly, looking at the South Korean rich list, the wealth curve of the 50 top rich also indicates that the proportion of major sectors of the Korean economy is changing, for example, compared with traditional industries such as oil, shipbuilding, and automobiles, new economic industries and new formats such as biotechnology, Internet, and new retail are rapidly rising, which is a big trend. It is also this trend change that can also be judged that South Korea's top rich will be in a continuous reshuffle, and this change will affect South Korea's political, economic, social and other levels in the future.
Forbes released the 2020 Korea Rich List, the second place is seo jung-jin, the 62-year-old president of the South Korean biopharmaceutical giant Cell Group, with a wealth of $11.4 billion. Although there is no change in the ranking compared to the previous year, Xu Tingzhen's wealth is growing significantly, reaching $7.4 billion in 2019.
In third place is Kim Jung-ju, founder of online game company Nexon, who also rose to $9.6 billion from $6.3 billion last year, surpassing the $6.7 billion of Samsung's "prince" Lee Jae-yong, both 52 years old. Nexon, South Korea's largest online game company, was caught in multiple scandals in 2016 for its stock shady involvement.
Kim Fan-so and Kwon Hyuk-bin, who ranked 5th and 6th in the Rookie List of South Korea
We have noticed that people like Kim Fan-so of Kakao, who is engaged in online services, Kwon Hye-bin of Smilegate Holdings, Kwon Hyok-jin of ncsoft, who is engaged in online games, Lee Hae-jin of Naver, who is engaged in Internet business, Fang Jun-hyuk and Lee Joon-ho, who are engaged in online games, all occupy prominent positions on the rich list, and their wealth growth is relatively fast.
Like Kim Fan-so's Kakao, it is not only a South Korean social giant, but also an online game platform that has an impact on ordinary Young Koreans.
In contrast, some chaebol families that once held a position of power in the Korean economy are a few points inferior, and many of their wealth is shrinking, a significant feature, they are mostly engaged in traditional industries.
Chey Tae-won, 59, who works in petroleum, semiconductor and SK holdings, is worth just $3.3 billion. Choi Tae-won is the chairman and CEO of South Korea's SK Group, and his wife is Lu Su-young, the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, and the two have recently been fighting a lawsuit in a "divorce case of the century". He is the second-generation successor of the Korean chaebol sk group and the richest man who has been in prison for the longest time among the five major chaebols in South Korea.
In addition, the 42-year-old koo kwang-mo, one of South Korea's five chaebols, is worth only $1.8 billion. The heir to the lg and star, Koo bon-silk, is only worth $1.03 billion. Another heir to the star, Koo-bon-neung, is worth $1.01 billion. After the death of Shigeru Kumoto, the third head of the lg and former president, he left a last word for his adopted son to inherit his business.
Haoliyou Holdings Li Heqing
Like China's rich list, FMCG giants in the food industry will have their own place on the rich list.
In this year's list, Lee Hwa-Kyung of Haoliyou Holdings is worth $800 million.
In 2011, Tan Zhekun, chairman of the Hollywood Group, was detained and prosecuted on suspicion of 30 billion won of secret funds. Li Heqing and her husband are one year old, now 64 years old, when she was the vice president, and then she and her husband both resigned as president and vice president, and handed over to professional managers to manage.
In the food industry, Kim Nam-jung, 47, is worth $820 million, Paris-croissant food boss Xu Yingyin, who is engaged in bakeries and fast food, is worth $960 million; and Lee Jae-hyun, a CJ company engaged in diversified businesses such as food and entertainment, is worth $1.04 billion. The people take food as the sky, and the wealth performance of the rich in the food industry is also reasonable.
There are many Korean skin care brands, and the beauty industry also has a certain status in the economy, and this aspect is also reflected in the rich list. For example, Amorepacific's owner, Xu Qingpei, 57, is worth $3 billion; Kim Jung-Woong, another cosmetics mog, 45, is worth $1.09 billion; and cosmetics mogul Lee Sang-rok is worth $830 million.
Lotte Department Store, a South Korean retail company founded in 1979, is worth $860 million by its second-generation heir, Shin Dong-joo. Xin Dongzhu, 66, is the eldest son of Shin Gehao, the founder of Lotte Group. Judging from the distribution of rich people in various industries in the Korean rich list, there are very few rich people engaged in the traditional department store retail industry, which also shows the plight of this industry from a certain perspective.
Like Lee Myung-hee, a new world female head who is also engaged in the retail business, she is only worth $840 million. Lee Myung-hee, chairman of the shinsegae group and once the richest woman in South Korea, was the youngest daughter of lee byung-chull, the late founder of Samsung Group, and the younger sister of Lee Kun-hee, South Korea's richest man.
Lee's only son, Chung Yong-jin, is the vice president of New World and has yet to fully take over the baton.
The status of female succession in South Korea is on the rise
Three-star princess Li Fuzhen
Compared with last year's list, 3 richest people in this year's List of South Korea's richest people have fallen on the list.
Park Yeon-cha, the founder of sneaker maker Taekwang Industrial, died in January, but his estate has not been resolved and this time it also fell off the list.
On this year's list, huh jae-myung and kim chang-soo are two of the new richest people on the list, one of whom is engaged in the manufacturing business of electronic parts and batteries, and the other of which is in the apparel industry. As new energy electric vehicles have become the outlet, the tide has risen, and the iljin materials of huh jae-myung's company have also risen.
In the past, when talking about South Korean rich people, it is inevitable to talk about big chaebols such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK, etc. Although they are still on the list, some chaebols such as Hyundai, LG, SK and other influences have gradually turned from prosperity to decline. And people like seo jung-jin, who works in biotechnology, became the biggest winner of this year's list, with a $4 billion plunge in wealth a year. Earlier, it was reported that his company began to conduct human trials on the treatment of new crown pneumonia. In short, the emergence of new economies and new formats has also had a profound impact on South Korea's wealth pattern, which is a major trend.
Another big trend is that the succession status of Korean women is on the rise.
Three-star princess Lee Fu-jin became the richest woman in South Korea with a wealth of $1.68 billion.
Samsung Second Princess Li Suxian
Lee Kin Hee, the second-generation head of Samsung, has three daughters, the youngest daughter, Lee Yin-xin, born in 1979. Suffering from severe depression, Li Yinxin committed suicide by wire in An apartment in Manhattan, New York, usa, in November 2005 at the age of 26.
However, the cause of Li Yinxin's death has always been mysterious, and her father, Li Jianxi, once claimed that Li Yinxin died in a car accident.
On the rich list, in addition to the two sisters Li Fuzhen and Lee Suxian, the Samsung family is on the list, and their sister-in-law Lee Myung Hee is on the list, and three women in one door are on the list, which also shows the status of Samsung in the Korean economy, and also shows from one side that the status of women in the Samsung family is rising.
Cui Xuanyuan
In addition to the three women of the Samsung family and the female head of Haoliyou, Li Heqing, there is another woman in the Korean 50 rich list, she is the youngest daughter of Choi Jong-hyun, the second president of the Korean SK Group.
South Korea's SK Group, one of the big chaebols in South Korea, the founder of the SK Group is Choi Jong-kyun, who died in 1973, and it was his younger brother Choi Jong-hyun, who is considered the "Lord of ZTE". Under Choi Jong-hyun, SK grew from a mid-level textile factory to a large conglomerate spanning multiple industries.
Choi Jong-hyun and his wife Park Gyu-hee have two sons and a daughter, the eldest son Choi Tae-won is the current president of the SK Group, and the second son, Choi Zai-won, is mainly responsible for sK Electronics. The youngest daughter, Cui Xuanyuan, 56, whose SK holds computer services and telecommunications businesses, made the list with a fortune of $1.23 billion.
Although the pattern of "more women than men" in South Korea has been formed, the idea of "son preference" in Korean society is still very serious, and this concept is also reflected in the choice of heirs in family businesses. Lee Fu-jin, Lee Su-hyun and their aunt Lee Myung-hee, as well as SK's Choi Soo-won, are all female members of South Korea's big chaebols, and now they can stand on their own and show them on the wealth list, which is a good phenomenon to some extent reflects that their succession status is on the rise.
Over the past 10 years, many Korean women have appeared, which can be seen that koreans in the new era no longer adhere to the traditional view of "male superiority and female inferiority", but it does not mean that the phenomenon of son preference in South Korea is disappearing, and when choosing heirs and successors, male family members still have an advantage; of course, the awareness of women's rights and interests is improving, which is also an indisputable fact.
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