By Kim Tae-gyu
Graduates of Seoul National, Yonsei and Korea universities are in charge of about a half of the country’s 500 biggest firms, according to CEO Score on Wednesday.
The three institutions are regarded as the best ivory towers here.
The Seoul-based consultancy learned that out of 586 chief executive officers at the 500 companies, 296 had graduated from the three universities as of the end of last year. Some had multiple CEOs.
Seoul National University came first with 154, followed by 88 from Korea University and 54 from Yonsei University.
Doosan Group Chairman Park Yong-maan, who also heads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and KB Koomin Bank CEO Lee Kun-ho, studied business administration at Seoul National University.
GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, who leads the Federation of Korean Industries, and Samsung Life Insurance President Kim Chang-soo, majored in the same subject at Korea University.
Young Poong Group Chairman Chang Hyung-jin and Hyundai Glovis President Kim Gyeong-bae graduated from the Business Administration Department of Yonsei University.
Broken down by regions where they were born, up to 163 were from Gyeongsang Province. Seoul came in second with 158, chased by Chungcheong Province with 48 and Jeolla Province with 41.
The proportion of woman chiefs was found to be tiny at only eight. They include Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Group tycoon Lee Kun-hee, who was hospitalized earlier this month because of a heart attack.
Also on that list are Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Kwon Seon-joo, the first female head of a major bank in Asia’s No. 4 economy, and Prudential Life Korea CEO Sohn Byoung-ok.
“During hard times, Korean companies tend to take conservative steps when appointing their CEOs by picking candidates with traditionally favored backgrounds, like ones with diplomas from the big three universities and those who came from Gyeongsang Province,” said Park Joo-geun, head of CEO Score.
“Such trends, which are not good for society because it hurts diversity in Korea’s business world, are feared to continue for the time being as the economy shows few signs of rebounding.”
Those who were born in Gyeongsang Province have almost dominated in Korea’s political and business circles. A majority of its presidents came from the region, including current President Park Geun-hye.