South Korea corporate crusader seeks to shake up chaebol

Corporate crusader Jang Ha-Sung, who works to shake up South Korea's powerful family-controlled business groups, admits he is hated by both bosses and unions. "I am a target of hatred from both management and workers. Labour unions have branded me as a traitor who works for foreign investors," said Jang, the dean of Korea University.
"But I firmly believe that what I'm doing now is helpful for the country's economy as a whole," said the economist, who has been leading small shareholders pushing for corporate reform.
Jang has led a campaign to improve corporate governance at Samsung Electronics and other conglomerates known as chaebol and to promote the rights of minority shareholders.
South Korea launched a drive to reform the conglomerates on which its economic miracle was originally built after it was hit by the East Asian financial crisis in 1997.
Their reckless expansion was partly to blame for the crisis that forced the government to spend some 30 trillion won (now 32.2 billion dollars) to rescue troubled banks and companies.
Jang, speaking to reporters last week, conceded there has been considerable progress in efforts to improve accounting transparency in the past decade.
But he is still not satisfied, saying a lack of transparency leads to a "Korea discount" in the eyes of foreign investors. "We still have a lot of work to do," he said, urging top conglomerates to establish a system of discipline by enhancing transparency and accountability.
South Korea is "still far short of global standards" in terms of corporate governance, he said. Despite their relatively small direct holdings the founding families still maintain a grip over their business empires through complicated chains of investment.
Of the conglomerates requiring more transparency, Jang singled out Hyundai Motor. Its chairman Chung Mong-Koo was sentenced to three years in jail in February for breach of trust and embezzling 90 billion won in company funds through fraudulent accounting. Chung, 68, who is free on bail, has appealed the ruling.
"Hyundai Motor should drastically improve corporate governance if it wants to become a global company," Jang said.
He said the domestic stock market would have a far higher valuation if better corporate governance were to take root. In April last year Jang tied up with US fund Lazard Asset Management LLC to launch the Korea Corporate Governance Fund, targeting mid-sized companies which are managed poorly by founding families.