Mr. Elliott, you are messing with one of us
By Oh Young-jin
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Paul Singer
Don’t get pesky about being called Mr. Elliott, Mr. Paul Singer.
After a month of tussling with Samsung to thwart the conglomerate’s attempt to thwart its inter-affiliate merger, your hedge fund has reached the status of household name and, to most Koreans, Elliott and you are one and the same with names interchangeable.
If you feel sore about not being named correctly, this can soothe it.
I see some resemblances you bear to Gordon Gekko, a corporate raider like you from the movie, The Wall Street. Michael Douglas, then before his battle with cancer, looked the part, especially when he said, “Greed is, for the lack of a better word, good.”
More fitting for your endeavor here, Gekko observed, “The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth … You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. … Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market.”
If my memory serves me correctly, I think even Gekko has occasionally shown reservations for being disliked, although that is an indispensable part of his job.
I have a reason to believe that you are having one of those Gekko moments now.
My evidence is the photo of you mingling with the Korean team’s supporters in the 2002 World Cup football championship, which was released by your company a couple of days ago.
Many news outlets used that photo for another invective targeting you but I think it was a right move to personify you in flesh and bones. Before the photo, you may well have been thought of as a three-horned devil or a bird of prey.
Give her a raise for making such a suggestion.
On a serious note, just in case you may wonder why you are being hated for fighting Samsung in a country where you have been told that the biggest chaebol is said to be a main target of hatred.
You may feel tempted to believe that most media outlets are taking sides with Samsung because they are at the beck and call of the big Samsung PR machine.
I suggest you take a history lesson current and old.
Korea is geographically squeezed between sea powers and continental powers, being subjected to constant threats or aggression. For more than 30 years at the turn of the 20th century, Korea had been under Japanese colonial rule.
The history of being under constant invasion has one way or another, I believe, had a sense of wariness against outsiders, although it is often hidden from view under the catchphrase of globalization.
Adding to the mix are a number of global corporate raiders who have made short work of big Korean firms before making hefty sums of profits.
You are preceded by Hermes, Sovereign, Steel Partners and Lone Star.
These corporate raiders are looked at as a new form of colonialists who use freedom of capital movements rather than their predecessors armed with guns and machetes.
In a nutshell, Mr. Singer, you are in our territory, where it is a fight between you and the rest of us.
Oh Young-jin is chief editorial writer of The Korea Times. This column is only available online.