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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:10 pm Post subject: Anti-Chaebol Electoral Sentiment in the ROK |
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Bashing the big guys
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[T]he presidential campaign is revolving around the term �economic democratisation�. It sounds woolly, but is used earnestly by all three candidates. The most surprising advocate is Ms Park. She has swung the ruling Saenuri Party away from the firmly pro-business Mr Lee. Members of her party have now drafted legislation that would stiffen sentences for convicted chaebol owners and their families, and restrict their business activities and investments. Other pro-chaebol diehards in her party continue to dismiss all this as empty populism.
Ms Park�s two opponents, Mr Moon of the Democratic United Party and Ahn Cheol-soo, a software entrepreneur and political independent, both claim to be out to protect small businesses from the chaebol. Mr Moon describes South Korea as a �jungle economy� in which the conglomerates enjoy �unfair privileges�. He does not intend to break them up, but wants to strengthen antitrust powers and to stop them from muscling into new territory where they jeopardise small businesses, such as bakeries.
Mr Ahn, who founded South Korea�s biggest antivirus software firm, accuses the chaebol of snaffling up innovative small businesses which then stagnate inside the conglomerates. His campaign was recently joined by Jang Ha-sung, dean of one of the country�s leading business schools. Mr Jang is a crusader for better corporate governance at the chaebol. Back in 2001 he helped win one of the first ever class-action lawsuits, against Samsung Electronics.
The chaebol are keeping their heads down, hoping that the hubbub will die away. Their defenders note that however much people rail against the conglomerates, most want their children to work at one of them when they grow up. Defenders also say chaebol are so central to South Korea that to attack them would be to attack the country�s economy.
In fact, weaker chaebol could be just what the economy needs. According to the OECD, other sectors, such as services, are highly inefficient and starved of investment in research and development. That is because the country�s development strategy has focused on manufacturing, siphoning capital, talent and other resources from services.
There is a danger in complacency. The pampered life of a unionised �labour aristocracy� which works for the chaebol, compared with poor pay for those in the rest of the economy, feeds a sense of injustice. Incestuous business practices by the chaebol�s rich owners add to the concerns. This month, the Fair Trade Commission slapped a 4 billion won ($3.7m) fine on three companies tied to Shinsegae, a big retailer linked to the Lee clan of Samsung, for helping pizza and bakery businesses owned by the chairwoman�s daughter.
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I have to say, I envy South Korean politics if their Presidential candidates are united against the chaebol's excessive economic influence. In the last U.S. Presidential Debate, both candidates blamed the wall street bail outs on people who got mortgages. This makes them pro-bank even in comparison to Forbes.com.
South Korea needs weaker chaebols and the United States needs weaker banks. It appears only the ROK intends to address its corporatism. |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:27 am Post subject: Re: Anti-Chaebol Electoral Sentiment in the ROK |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| I have to say, I envy South Korean politics if their Presidential candidates are united against the chaebol's excessive economic influence. |
How my grandpa (Korean War vet for the South Korean army) explained this: "Every presidential candidate for this year supports Communism and North Korea."
If you think of about it, it's mostly true.  |
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