It is refreshing enough to hear some Hyundai Group-affiliated firms and individuals will set up a 500 billion-won welfare foundation.
Even more heartening are two facts: The Asan Sharing Foundation, called after the penname of the late founder of the group, Chung Ju-yung, is a ``voluntary” body, unlike other similar charities born to offset the wrongdoings by the chairmen of family-controlled conglomerates; and about half of the money came from individual, not corporate, donations.
One might suspect some political motivations behind the move, as its biggest donor, Rep. Chung Mong-joon, who chipped in 200 billion won ($188 million), is one of the presidential hopefuls for the 2012 election.
True, the former chairman of the ruling Grand National Party could have dispelled such suspicions more easily had he made the decision a few years ago. Voters will know in time of Chung’s, or Hyundai’s, ultimate intention, but for the moment it seems okay to give them the benefit of doubt. Anyway, those who are not ready to give one eighteenth of their net worth for others had better remain silent for the moment.
With or without presidential ambitions, such an act of charity deserves praise, especially in view of the extreme selfishness among Korea’s wealthiest people. Few chaebol chairmen are seen in the list of about 50 members in the ``Honors Club,” composed of individuals who donated 100 million won or more. In another shameful statistic, the domestic businesses spent 7.5 trillion won on entertainment expenses and only 3.4 trillion won for donations last year.
It is well known that some U.S. ``mega-rich,” including Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, give half of their assets back to society, and call for their government to raise taxes on wealthy people. Compare this with Korean tycoons, who nearly always spend corporate funds for public, and even private, purposes and do whatever they can to save or dodge taxes to transfer managerial control to their children and grandchildren. The difference is not about the gap of tax breaks on donations in the two countries but about the class and consciousness of the wealthy.
If Chung is to push ahead with his presidential pursuit, which is highly likely, he should therefore take the lead in drafting a bill to raise taxes on rich individuals and big businesses, or at least call for President Lee Myung-bak to withdraw the decision to extend tax cuts for the richest 5 percent or so.
Donation is just a form of private sharing, a dispensation from the wealthy. But the payment of taxes is an act of public distribution, which precludes the possibility for compromising personal dignity of people on the receiving end. Which is why personal donations are far less noticeable in North Europe than in America but Europeans lead far happier lives than Americans.
There is one more, and more fundamental, move for the Hyundai affiliates if they are to really pursue co-prosperity with the less privileged in this society: They must take the lead in living as a good corporate citizen which keeps this society’s laws and norms in dealing with labor unions and suppliers.
Yet the best thing that can happen for now seems to be that Hyundai’s act would move ― or force ― other chaebol to follow its example.