By Kim Do-yeun
Park Tae-joon, the late founder and honorary chairman of global steel company POSCO, is said to have left no personal assets before his passing on Dec. 13.
Park had been a prominent national figure behind the success of POSCO, which was founded on April 1, 1968, in addition to having been a household name through his political stints. He had briefly served as prime minister in 2000 during Kim Dae-jung’s presidency.
Despite the public perception that he might have accumulated a considerable amount of personal wealth, his surviving family members say that Park left no property under his name.
In June 1988, his company had begun trading in its shares at 38,058 won in the securities market, and by October 2007 it hit the highest point at 765,000 won. As of Dec. 13, 2011, the rate stood at 389,500 won, 10 times the initial price two decades ago.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffet is also known to possess a four percent share in POSCO.
By the third quarter of this year, the firm boasted a cumulative production amounting to 4.5 percent of the total world volume of crude steel, while achieving 50.2 trillion won in sales and 4.4 trillion won in operating profits.
However, while the company grew as a global steelmaker, Park had never raked in any personal profits.
This has been confirmed by the family’s spokesman Kim Myung-jeon, vice chairman of Samjong KPMG, a financial advisory firm.
“Chairman Park owned neither a house under his name nor stocks. Even since the early days of his company, he never enjoyed an affluent life,” he said. “He lived at his eldest daughter’s house and his children helped him with his living expenses.”
The business leader who also dabbled in politics has been known for his modesty.
Many remember his alleged breach of the Customs Act in the fall of 1974, which was proven false after his residence was searched by the authorities concerned. Nothing had been found except for closets full of blankets and clothes, and a number of petty items and documents in his safe.
He is also known to have refused when Mitsubishi in Japan had once offered to invest in a shipping company and suggested Park manage the proceeds, as a gesture of thanks for having partnered with them during a period of exceptional growth for POSCO. He had instead poured all of the proceeds into the Pohang University of Science and Technology, which he founded.
Park had consistently shown an indifference to personal wealth.
It is said that he had barely been able to pay his own medical expenses while he was hospitalized and treated for his lung disease leading up to his death.