[Good Rich, Bad Rich] Chung Ju-yung and Kim Il-sung: Different Paths to Wealth

One day in January 1989, Chung Ju-yung, chairman of the Hyundai Group, who was known as “Chairman Wang,” was meeting with North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. It was a meeting to discuss economic cooperation between Hyundai and the North Korean regime, but from another perspective, it was also a meeting between the richest men in South and North Korea. Chung Ju-yung was the richest man in South Korea, and Kim Il-sung was the richest man in North Korea.

Although both men were the richest in their respective countries, the way they became rich was completely different. Chung Ju-yung became wealthy through business. With bold judgment, drive, and foresight, he built and successfully ran numerous companies. In the process, he supplied South Korean consumers with inexpensive, high-quality cars and buildings, and provided workers with countless jobs. Chung Ju-yung’s wealth was the result.

Kim Il-sung was different. His wealth was the result of taking what countless North Korean workers had produced, and of preventing entrepreneurs like Chung Ju-yung from ever emerging. This difference created the enormous gap between South and North Korea.

In South Korea, people were allowed to make money, and if they succeeded, they could become very wealthy, like Chung Ju-yung or Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul. As a result, everyone rushed to earn money, and in that process people gradually became better off. In contrast, making money was taboo for North Koreans. They were required to work for the state and for President Kim Il-sung, but in the end they only went through the motions. After 60 years of this being repeated, compared with the standard of living of North Koreans today, even the average South Korean is tremendously wealthy.

In fact, North Korea is a land where the old formula for becoming rich—the one that ruled this land for thousands of years—has remained intact. From Dangun Wanggeom to King Taejong Muyeol of Unified Silla, Wang Geon, founder of Goryeo, and King Sejong and Emperor Gojong of Joseon, the richest person in every dynasty was the king. That was because only those who could seize property with swords and spears could accumulate and keep wealth. For thousands of years, wealth was something to be taken. That is what North Korea is like today. Ordinary citizens without guns and swords cannot keep their money even if they earn it.

South Korea is different. Guns and swords are not tools for taking citizens’ property, but rather for protecting it. One can become very rich without taking what belongs to others. Indeed, only those who serve others well with inexpensive, high-quality goods and services can become truly wealthy.

Original title: [좋은 부자, 나쁜 부자] 정주영과 김일성, 부자 되는 법의 차이

Author: Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

Date: 2007-12-17

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=19&idx=10704