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3 Pillars Fuel Korea’s Economic Development

President, Bureaucrats, Entrepreneurs Co-led Miracle By Kim Tae-gyu Staff Reporter As far as Korea's economic development is concerned, former Prime Minister Nam Duck-woo is a living legend. Under his stewardship, the nation has evolved to one of the world's major economies from a backwater. In his memoir published late last year, Nam says a strong resolve of political leaders, entrepreneurs ready to take risks and financial bureaucrats to support them are the Holy Trinity to enable the fast growth of Asia's fourth-largest economy. ``Without the three pillars, Korea Inc. would have been unable to overcome the shock of the first oil crisis in October 1973. The process is hard to explain with merely economic theories,'' Nam said. ``After tiding over the first oil crisis, heavy industries, which were sought after in the early 1970s under the leadership of President Park Chung-hee, spearheaded our exports and economic growths,'' the 85-year-old said. When then President Park took power of the impoverished country four decades ago, he tried to modernize it mostly

Ahn Jae-hong, third from left, CEO of Mirae Asset SPAC...

Chung Joon-yang, left, chairman of steelmaker POSCO ...

Bureaucracy-Think Tank Partnership Powered Korea

By Kongdan Oh Non-resident senior fellow, The Brookings Institution One of the most prominent characteristics of an underdeveloped or developing state is the corruption of the ruling class. Failed states throughout the world are plagued by deep-seated structural corruption that spins a nation in a vicious cycle of power abuse, poverty, poor education and underdeveloped infrastructure. Korea was one of the world's poorest nations at the time the three-year Korean War ended in 1953, but in less than a half century the country became a leading global economic power with a vibrant democracy. How did the Korean bureaucracy contribute to this remarkable national development? Legacy of Korean Bureaucracy The last dynasty before Korea's modernization was the Joseon Dynasty, lasting 600 years from 1392 to 1910. During this period, the typical public servant was either appointed by the royal court or recruited through national testing, thus respecting two moral principles of Korean society: selfless loyalty to the king and the value of knowledge. Korean public servants, in p

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Samsung Life Insurance employees hold up their fists ...

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yu In-chon, right, ...

Customer Satisfaction, Teamwork Key to Kyobo Management

By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter Kyobo Life Insurance CEO Shin Chang-jae places top priority on satisfying customers and achieving a common goal through good teamwork, saying creating a virtuous cycle among clients, employees, investors, communities and other stakeholders is the key to the sustainable growth. ``Business starts with customers. As a top manager, I pay the greatest attention to what happens in the field. We must satisfy customers to boost revenue and profit, which in turn will benefit customers, employees, shareholders and all other stakeholders, establishing a virtuous cycle,'' Shin told The Korea Times in an email interview. The CEO said all members of an organization should be motivated and work toward a concerted goal if it wants to succeed, stressing that good teamwork is an essential element in a successful business. Kyobo is synonymous with the history of Korean life insurance. Shin Yong-ho, the late father of CEO Shin, established the company in 1958 as Daehan Kyoyuk Insurance. The insurer's total asset, which was only 22 million won in its first year

Kyobo Aims to Boost Profits to W1 Tril. by 2015

By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter Banks, securities firms, insurers and other financial services companies here have successfully overcome the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent international financial turmoil over the past one and a half years. One life insurance firm stands out among the pack, with its second-to-none risk management and marketing strategies. Kyobo Life Insurance has emerged unscarred from the global crisis and turned it into a golden opportunity to become one of the world's leading life insurers, aiming to achieve 100 trillion won assets under management and one trillion won net profit by 2015. In November last year, the life insurer was selected as the Life Insurance Company of the Year at the 2009 Asia Insurance Industry Awards held at the 10th Singapore International Reinsurance Conference, becoming the first Korean firm to be given the award. The panel of judges said among other considerations, they highly regarded Kyobo's customer-oriented management, ability to generate stable profits, preemptive risk management and corporate social respo

CEO Park Focuses on Enhancing Efficiency

By Kim Jae-won Staff Reporter With the vision of transforming Tong Yang into a global financial leader, CEO Park Joong-jin has placed top priority on maximizing efficiency in business practices since he took office in 2006. To achieve this goal, Park launched a comprehensive business management system, focusing on improving productivity. The innovative system has enabled the company to retain customers. He also overhauled its salary system to become more meritocratic, meaning it is based more on employee performance. Based on his leadership, Tong Yang realized profits for 10 consecutive years, and is expected to attain its best-ever business performance since its establishment in 1989. Park said the firm will expand its boundaries to the pension market as well as maintaining its strong point of child insurance. "We are interested in the retirement market. As baby boomers are preparing to stop work, the pension market will grow drastically for the foreseeable future," Park said. "We kicked off long-term care pension products, which guarantees security after retirement.