A Country where Chaebol is good to live in, South Korea/ rewrite

 

A Country where Chaebol is good to live in, South Korea

 

On March 10th, 2017 something big thing happened in Korea. Citizens impeached the president. The citizens that were angry with the president went out to the square with candles. Eventually, the Constitutional court impeached the president. Not a single drop of blood, it went in a 100% democratic way. However, on February 5th, 2018, something even bigger happened. The court acquitted Samsung Electronics Vice chairman Lee Jae-Yong. Lee and Park made a collision between politics and business. Park will live 25-years in prison. In contrast, Lee was acquitted. This is because Lee’s economic power and power to dominate public opinion is much larger than Park’s. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that Samsung controls this country. Therefore, when we see something as a problem, we often blame Samsung and Chaebol. Some people argue that Chaebols are unfairly criticized in South Korea. However, I think that we need to criticize more and impose stricter moral standards on Chaebol. I will argue this perspective for the following reasons which I am going to elaborate. I will use the article “Why Are South Korea’s Chaebol Important” because that article has some statistical basis, “Inside South Korea’s Chaebol” for the origin of Chaebol and “South Koreas long history of light sentences for business leaders” for an appropriate example.

To begin with, Chaebol has never been punished properly. For example, Lee Kun-hee, the Samsung group chairman, in 2008, he was convicted of tax evasion, but three years of the prison sentence was suspended and he was ordered to pay 110 billion won ($93 million) instead. (PhamSherisse, 2017) As we can see, Chaebol is punished relatively unscathed for their crimes. SK chairman Chey Tae-won was convicted of embezzlement in 2013 and spent about two years in prison, one of the longest sentences served by a Chaebol leader. (PhamSherisse, 2017) Just two years is the longest sentences served by Chaebol. There is something wrong with this situation.

On top of that, Chaebol has dominated for a very long time. The word "Chaebol” comes from the combination of the characters for “rich” and “clan.” It applies to large groups of interconnected companies that are usually dominated by a wealthy family. (TejadaCarlos, 2017) Chaebol is not just one person but a family.  The president or congressman has a fixed term. But the Chaebol has no fixed term. When the chairman dies, the son inherits the group. Take Samsung group, for instance, vice chairman Lee Jae-Yong is already a third-generation succession. We criticize North Korea because of their power succession. But there is no one who criticizes Samsung for the same reason. Currently, Samsung group is responsible for 41% of the nation`s economy. (AlbertEleanor, 2018) Tons of small citizens are competing with the Chaebol. They cannot win if Chaebol competes with a huge amount of capital.

Finally, the nation's Chaebol is obliged to give their wealth back to society. Chaebol is not the only ones who used their own power to amass huge wealth. After the Korean War, all Koreans, including the “Saemaeul Movement (새마을 운동)”, worked hard to revive the economy. At that time, the government gave a lot of support to create a large company. The government gave more profit to Chaebol and gave them tax breaks. With so many benefits, the Chaebol were able to grow. Now, the Chaebol have grown beyond the control of the government. But they weren't that big from the beginning. The government's support resulted in a Chaebol. That is why Chaebol has a duty to give back their wealth to the nation. However, they are not even abiding by the minimum law. That is why Chaebol should be monitored and criticized more.

To sum up, Chaebol has never been punished properly and has had too much power for a long time. Also, they have a duty to give their wealth back to society. For these reasons, I claim that we have to criticize Chaebol more and that we must closely watch if there is anything they are doing wrong.