By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Yang Chung-mo, the former chairman of Kukje Group, one of the country's largest conglomerates before getting dissolved by the Chun Doo-hwan administration, died on Sunday of pneumonia. He was 89.
He had been in the intensive care unit for weeks at the Seoul National University Hospital for treatment to complications related to old age.
Having led the biggest shoe factory in Busan in the 1940s, Yang was considered one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country, building his firm to become the country's seventh-largest conglomerate by the 1980s.
Only a graduate of a technical high school, Yang quickly expanded his family business to other industries, including textiles, trade, securities and engineering.
After speedy growth, however, the business started going downhill when Yang ignored former President Chun Doo-hwan's fundraising drive. The executive fell out of government favor and Kukje's empire slowly began to collapse from financial deterioration in 1985.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the dissolution of Kukje Group was unconstitutional in 1993, but it was too late to save the firm.
Memorial services will be held at Asan Medical Center until April 1.