The founding of Samsung was unusual not in the garage or student room It took place in the aftermath of one of Korea’s darkest periods.

The story is about the difficulties of the Japanese occupation. of the Korean War Its destruction and subsequent support from the US aid and Korean governments.

The first half of the 20th century was not good for Korea.

Japanese officers in Korea.

After a century of political intervention, the Japanese Empire formally annexed Korea in 1910. turned it into a puppet state. As you can imagine, the Japanese occupation was brutal.

Despite the chaos caused by American and Soviet military rule in 1945 The Korean people were optimistic. One of these optimists was Kim, one of the few Koreans lucky enough to start his own business during the Japanese occupation. It was Lee Byung-chul.

Lee Byung-chul

Lee specialized in grocery exports in 1938 with the name Samsung He started a small shipping company.

Samsung has been big from the start had a competitive advantage. Lee’s usefulness to the regime earned him many privileges that most Koreans did not have, such as obtaining loans from Japanese banks.

While Samsung’s Japanese era was good for its time, the newly independent South Korea presented enormous opportunities for Lee.

Everything looked great for Samsung, but then The Korean War broke out. Modern weapons have destroyed major cities and industrial centers in South Korea. Many Korean factories were damaged during the Three Years’ War.

At the end of the war, Korea’s infrastructure and economy collapsed. The South Korean government will finance the country’s enormous military expenditure. have to print more money prices have risen excessively.

hyperinflation so much so that by July 1953, the Korean currency in circulation was 24 times larger than it was just three years earlier.

The future of South Korea, and therefore of Samsung, looked increasingly uncertain.

After the war, the US Korean version of the Marshall Plan and the United Nations soon followed suit. the Korean government in the 1950s 3 billion dollars and the government selected companies that were worth investing in.

Samsung was among the companies that benefited from this support. Of course, Lee’s close friendship with South Korea’s first president played a major role in these elections. In fact, during Lee’s tenure, Samsung receive government support It was on an incredible scale.

The government usually imposes very strict export restrictions. Giving freedom to Samsung allowing it to become the largest exporter of scrap metal after the war. The transfer of American aid money to Samsung allowed Samsung to start real production.

Buying dilapidated factories with American money and rebuilding them was such a profitable business that Samsung grew at an average rate of 93% per year throughout the 1950s.

However, help It was just the visible side of the coin. The Korean government also provided Samsung with generous loans at very competitive rates. Lee was one of the main beneficiaries of government loans through state-owned banks.

The funny thing was that after he got the money, he turned around and started buying the same sofas. Also in the insurance and chemical sectors Samsung, which began to operate, had grown so much that even the revolution could not bring it down.

When the military overthrew the regime in 1961, Lee probably wasn’t too worried. Under new management The Korean economy opened up and Samsung focused on export growth.

Lee had once again found favor with the Korean government. In 1969, the government reduced taxes on companies active in the electronics sector. reduce by 50% He passed a law that at that time only Samsung Electronics existed…

None of this would have been possible without Lee’s position close to political power. Samsung by the way Even today, hand in hand with the government to walk.

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