The consortium forced the palace, and Moon Jae-in pursued Samsung for four years, and finally lost to money.
The influence of the Korean chaebol in South Korea is very important and is well known around the world. The relationship between the Korean consortium and the Blue House Curse is also closely linked. Since the rise of South Korea's chaebol, which has gradually controlled the country's economic lifeline, and even got involved in politics, it has always attracted the attention of South Koreans.
Quite a few ** have tried to put the chaebol in the dock, but the end result is not ideal.
Moon Jae-in: Continuing Roh Moo-hyun's unfinished business and challenging the courage of South Korea's chaebols. The predecessor of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, was in power as a grassroots and dared to challenge South Korea's top ten chaebols, setting off a "clean government storm".
Although he failed to shake the foundation of the chaebol in the end, his courage is admirable. However, Roh Moo-hyun's ending was tragic, and he ended with "jumping off a cliff to his death", which made countless people sigh.
Under these circumstances, Roh Moo-hyun's close friend and comrade-in-arms, Moon Jae-in, who had always regarded him as his mentor, decided to take over his unfinished business and continue the struggle against the South Korean chaebol. After Moon Jae-in took office, he spent four years "hunting down" Samsung and finally sent Lee Jae-yong to prison.
However, in the end, Moon Jae-in lost to "money".
South Korea's chaebols have always been seen as notorious presences, and people don't have a good impression of them. Even South Koreans themselves will jokingly call South Korea the "Samsung Empire", because Samsung accounts for about 20% of South Korea's GDP, and Koreans cannot do without Samsung's products and services in all aspects of their lives.
It is precisely because South Korea's top ten chaebols control more than 70% of the country's GDP that their status in South Korea can be described as high, beyond the limits of the law, they can do whatever they want, and even manipulate the political situation in South Korea.
South Korea's industry and economy have experienced a major turning point in its history. On the Korean Peninsula, although some industrial infrastructure has emerged, South Korea's industry and economy are still in a very backward state due to Japanese rule.
However, after Korea's independence, the United States and Japan began to vigorously support Korean companies, and South Korea's chaebols began to emerge. In 1965, South Korea and Japan signed a treaty in which South Korea received $300 million in war reparations and $200 million in low-interest loans, and Japanese companies and technology began to enter Korea.
During this period, South Korea's industry and economy developed rapidly, and the support of the first made Samsung, Hyundai and other large enterprises rise rapidly, and the tentacles of enterprises began to extend to all aspects of South Korea's social economy.
In the 30 years from the '60s to the '90s, South Korea made an astonishing economic leap, with GDP surging from $2.4 billion to $598.1 billion, which is undoubtedly good news, especially for South Korea's chaebols.
The rapid growth of chaebol companies, such as Samsung, has quickly turned them into hyperscale global players. Unlike most other companies in the world, South Korea's chaebol monopoly was not hindered by **, but was supported by **, because the Korean chaebol was still in the hands of ** at that time.
During Chun Doo-hwan**'s period, due to his reluctance to make political contributions, the international business group was subject to "bank loan restrictions" and eventually went bankrupt. This is seen as a means for Chun Doo-hwan to warn others.
But it wasn't long before things went out of South Korea's control. The Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997, causing many small chaebols to go bankrupt, but the big chaebols are growing in strength, even to the point that South Korea** cannot control them.
They even have the ability to manipulate the opposite**. This is because South Korea's dependence on the chaebol is very high, and the chaebol controls the economic lifeline of South Korea, which makes South Korea lose its decisive position and autonomy in the national economy, and can only follow the advice of the chaebol.
In South Korea, politicians who want to run for the top must have the financial backing of the chaebols and them, otherwise it will be difficult to win. Once elected, they return to the chaebol and protect their interests.
This vicious circle has led to ** becoming the "puppet" of the chaebol, whose policies are only for the welfare of the chaebol, not for the happiness of the country and the people. Therefore, it can be said that the chaebols have a lot of influence in the politics of South Korea, and it can even be said that they are "regents".
Lee Myung-bak, for example, is a representative of this phenomenon, and most of his policies since coming to power have been aimed at protecting the interests of the chaebols. However, not all ** are "puppets" of the chaebol.
Roh Moo-hyun, an idealistic **, was born as a commoner and deeply hated the harm of the South Korean chaebol to the people. He firmly believes that only by declaring war on the chaebol can the people be given a "clean sky".
Without any background, he set off a huge storm of clean government in 2006, declaring war on corruption at the top of the country, and in essence declaring war on the chaebol.
In South Korea, collusion between politics and business has become an open secret, but no one wants to lift the veil. Roh Moo-hyun bravely stepped forward and pushed for the election of 8 MPs, which was **sparked in South Korea**.
However, this move of his angered the chaebols, who began to accuse him of himself and launched a ** offensive, although Roh Moo-hyun has always insisted on being honest, but in the end, he chose to kill himself by jumping off a cliff to defend himself and his reputation.
Moon Jae-in: In the name of Roh Moo-hyun, revenge for South Korea's chaebol After Roh Moo-hyun's death, Moon Jae-in announced his candidacy as Roh Moo-hyun's close friend, comrade-in-arms and mentor, and his goal is to bring down South Korea's chaebol.
After a defeat, Moon Jae-in was elected South Korea's ** in 2017, and since taking office, he has been living up to his oath and embarking on a path of revenge.
He hopes to realize Roh Moo-hyun's dream and avenge Roh Moo-hyun's death.
Samsung's mobile phone "** door" has caused Samsung to encounter a word-of-mouth crisis, and the Chinese market has almost been lost. Immediately afterwards, Park Geun-hye's "best friend interfered in politics" incident, the first female ** in South Korean history was imprisoned for this, and Lee Jae-yong was also implicated.
The South Korean prosecutor's office found that Lee Jae-yong had bribed Park Geun-hye's best friend Choi Soon with billions of won in order to support the merger of his company.
It turned out that the merger of the two companies had led to a significant increase in Lee's stake in Samsung, and his influence had also increased. In fact, for South Korea's chaebols, bribery is commonplace, and who does not pay bribes is a new thing.
In general, even if the bribery of the South Korean chaebol is revealed, it is enough to apologize and announce the withdrawal of the management for a while. However, Lee Jae-yong ran into Moon Jae-in, who originally wanted to declare war on the chaebol, how could he let go of this good opportunity?
As a result, with Moon's support, Lee Jae-yong's life began to become difficult: in August 2017, Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to five years in prison.
After the verdict of the second instance, Lee Jae-yong was not satisfied, and he chose to appeal. Surprisingly, in the second-instance verdict, Lee Jae-yong was only sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, with a four-year reprieve, and he was released on the spot.
However, this did not satisfy the South Korean special prosecution team, who filed a protest. With Moon's support, the second-instance verdict was revoked, and the case was returned to the Seoul High Court for a retrial.
This time, South Korea's special prosecution team demanded that Lee Jae-yong be sentenced to nine years in prison.
Although the special inspection team's requirements for Lee Jae-yong were reduced from 12 years to 9 years, their goal was still not met. In Moon Jae-in persistently"Hunt"Four years after Lee Jae-yong, Lee Jae-yong was finally sentenced to only two and a half years in prison, but this time he didn't"Suspended for four years", Lee Jae-yong immediately **, went to a prison in Seoul to serve his sentence.
This is undoubtedly a major victory for Mr. Moon, but for South Korea's chaebols, the situation is quite different.
Although Lee Jae-yong is behind bars, he is still the de facto helmsman of Samsung Group and is known as the "crown prince". Mr. Moon's reluctance to press Mr. Lee was apparently intended to warn others that South Korea's chaebols would not be able to accept.
United, their first task is to try to rescue Lee Jae-yong.
In May 2021, South Korea's five major chaebols – Samsung, Hyundai, LG and others – jointly wrote to the Blue House, asking Moon Jae-in to release Lee Jae-yong. It is said that this letter has received the support of many organizations such as the Korea General Association of Managers and the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and it seems to be very popular.
The reasons of the chaebols are also quite convincing, they say, just like the United States ** Biden said, the semiconductor industry is a modern "infrastructure", now South Korea's semiconductor industry is in trouble, and the international competition is so fierce, South Korea is indeed "inseparable" Samsung, after all, Samsung has a technological advantage in the field of semiconductors.
However, Lee Jae-yong's imprisonment put Samsung in a leaderless predicament, and many decisions could not be made in a timely manner, hindering the development of Samsung Group. This could cause South Korea to lose its leading position in the semiconductor industry, adversely affecting the country's economy.
South Korea's chaebol said that due to the coronavirus pandemic and the unstable global economic situation, large companies like Samsung are essential to the stability of the country's economy. Their reasons seem legitimate, but in fact, according to **, even if Lee Jae-yong is in prison, Samsung's operations have not been affected, so it is obviously an exaggeration to claim that he will be in prison for another year and a half in prison to threaten the South Korean economy.
Moreover, this is not the first time that the chaebols have tried to rescue someone.
In 2020, Samsung Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam and others have arranged a banquet at the Blue House, hoping to let Moon Jae-in release Lee Jae-yong through ** method. Since then, the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea has also actively intervened to try to relieve Lee Jae-yong.
It is understood that they have "hinted" at Moon Jae-in that if Lee Jae-yong's detention will affect Samsung's support for Biden, then this may affect South Korea's strategic partnership with the United States.
This directly linked Lee Jae-yong to the support of the United States, which shows the enormous pressure that Moon Jae-in was facing at that time. However, for Moon, there may be no pressure more than the blow that Roh's death has dealt to him.
Therefore, even in the face of the chaebols and the "forced palace" of the United States, Moon Jae-in still stood his ground.
Moon Jae-in has been resolute in his conviction of Lee Jae-yong, and even though the South Korean public supports his release as high as 62 percent, he has insisted on not using the amnesty power.
In order to win the hearts and minds of the people, Samsung Group contributed money and efforts to help fight the epidemic during the epidemic, and promised to provide more jobs. However, even in the face of these tangible and tangible benefits, Moon Jae-in still insisted that he would not pardon Lee Jae-yong, saying that releasing Lee Jae-yong is not something that can be decided at will.
Despite the efforts of all parties, Lee Jae-yong was successfully released in August 2021 as eligible for parole, but he was not pardoned by Moon, perhaps reflecting Moon's insistence on fairness and justice.
However, even a firm belief is ultimately no match for the power of money. On the one hand, Lee Jae-yong was released from prison early due to parole, and other cases he was involved in, such as financial fraud, were not punished by law.
On the other hand, after Moon Jae-in stepped down, Yoon Suk-yeol** announced the "Liberation Day" amnesty list, and Lee Jae-yong's name was prominently listed.
After Lee Jae-yong was released on parole, he still had a five-year practice limit. However, with the Liberation Day amnesty in place, he will be able to fully resume business activities, which means that he has officially returned.
Moon himself is plagued by the "Blue House curse." According to reports, South Korean prosecutors have informed Moon Jae-in that they will conduct a written investigation against him and send relevant materials. The reason for the investigation is that South Korean prosecutors are investigating a case of "shooting and killing of a civil servant in Seohae" that occurred in September 2020.
In this case, a South Korean civil servant suddenly disappeared while on duty, and the next day, he was killed at sea by North Korean soldiers.
Two years ago, South Korean officials identified the man as suspected of defecting to North Korea, so it did not cause a major stir. But in June this year, the authorities changed their position, saying that they had found no evidence of defection and would re-investigate the case.
The Democratic Party of Korea pointed out that the incident could be political revenge, as Moon Jae-in clearly refused to receive the relevant documents and said that the act was very rude. Perhaps this is just the beginning, and Mr. Moon could face an even bigger storm in retirement, all because he angered South Korea's chaebols during his tenure.