When The Mighty Fall

Today's news brought with it one of the biggest (and I'm sure most satisfying for some) shocks to hit Korean business since the market crash in the late 1990s: Chung Mong-koo was convicted. For those that don't know, Mr. Chung is the chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, probably the most internationally recognizable entity of the formerly gargantuan Hyundai corporate conglomerate. He is also the son of Hyundai's founder, who enjoys almost mythical status here, and one of the richest (if not the richest) men in Korea, a true legend among legends who benefited from, and contributed to, Korea's rise as an Asian economic powerhouse. His trial for embezzlement of over $100 million from his company's coffers, intended to line the pockets of Korea's political and corporate elite, lasted over six months, and many analysts had warned that his conviction could be devastating to the Korean economy. Others assumed that he would be treated leniently by the court, given his stature in Korea and the nation's past record on dealing with corporate corruption. However, the verdict came down as guilty today, and he was sentenced to three years in prison (which honestly seems a little low to me, and is half of what the prosecutors asked for), although his lawyers have promised to appeal and there's still some skepticism as to whether he'll ever actually serve time.

It's at times like these that I am reminded of what Marx wrote in the 1844 manuscripts: "Under private property ... every person speculates one creating a new need in another, so as to drive him to fresh sacrifice, to place him in a new dependence and to seduce him into a new mode of gratification and therefore economic ruin. Each tries to establish over the other an alien power, so as thereby to find satisfaction in his own selfish need ... Man becomes even poorer as man; his need for money becomes even greater..."