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What to Know About the Chaebol Families That Dominate South Korea’s Economy
Conglomerates that sprawl across the society trace their roots to the nation’s rise into a world power and have been tightly controlled for generations.
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In a photo from 2021, Moon Jae-in, center, who was then the South Korean president, meets with top business leaders: from left, Koo Kwang-mo of LG, Chey Tae-won of SK, Chung Eui-sun of Hyundai, and Kim Ki-nam of Samsung Electronics. Credit...Yonhap/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Victoria Kim and Daisuke Wakabayashi
Reporting from Seoul
Dec. 18, 2023Updated 10:58 a.m. ET
For decades, South Korea’s economy has been dominated by a handful of family-run conglomerates that hold outsize wealth and influence and factor into nearly every aspect of life in the country.
Because of their political heft, the chaebol, as these families are known, have long been a matter of immense public interest. The marriages, deaths, estrangements and legal troubles of these families are chronicled in the South Korean press. Fictional chaebol families have been depicted in Korean dramas. The Lee family of Samsung, the Koos of LG, the Cheys of SK, the Shins of Lotte and the Chungs of Hyundai are household names that have tightly held the reins of the companies that are some of the country’s largest private sector employers.
Their power has been increasingly scrutinized — both inside and outside South Korea — as an economic vulnerability, deepening inequalities and fostering corruption.
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Victoria Kim is a correspondent based in Seoul, focused on international breaking news coverage. More about Victoria Kim
Daisuke Wakabayashi is an Asia business correspondent for The Times based in Seoul, covering economic, corporate and geopolitical stories from the region. More about Daisuke Wakabayashi
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