Former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-joong, who died at the age of 83 on the 9th, had a big blast, taking the biggest bankruptcy of all time and living abroad.

Unlike first-generation entrepreneurs such as Lee Byung-cheol and Jung Joo-young, who grew up Samsung and Hyundai, former chairman Kim Woo-joong is classified as a 1.5 generation entrepreneur who started as a salaryman.

Kim's success story of 'World Management' has sprouted since 1967, when he was 30 years old.

Youngwoo Kim, a former textile exporter, worked with Do Jae-hwan of Daedo Textile, a tricot fabric producer, to launch Daewoo Industrial.

Daewoo is said to have been named after Daedae textile giant and Kim Woojoong's wo.

Daewoo Industrial Co., Ltd., which started with a capital of 5 million won at the time, exported tricot fabrics and products to Singapore from the first year, earned $ 580,000, and expanded its market to Indonesia, the United States, etc., with great success.

The nickname 'Tricoat Kim' was also attached to the deceased who had raised seed money for Daewoo Group's construction by exporting tricot fabrics and shirts.

In addition, the deceased, who had brought his own sample fabric and announced Daewoo's first brand, Young Tiger, also known as 'Tiger Kim' in Southeast Asia.

Daewoo Industrial Co., Ltd. received a presidential citation for its export performance in 1968, and was running fast.

In 1969, the first Korean company established an overseas branch (Sydney, Australia), and since the opening of Korea's general trading company in 1975, Daewoo, led by Kim, became the export window for domestic SMEs. Daewoo Co., Ltd., the group's parent company, was launched in conjunction with Daewoo Ind.

In 1976, the Okpo Shipyard was made Daewoo Heavy Industries, and Daewoo Electronics, which was acquired in 1974, and the Korean Electric Home Appliance Division in 1983, made Daewoo Electronics the main focus of the group.

Daewoo Group also laid the groundwork for overseas business by entering the African market, including Ecuador (1976) and Sudan (1977) and Libya (1978).

As a result of his unwavering expansion of management, Daewoo has grown into the nation's four largest conglomerates in just 15 years.

Kim, who was extraordinary in overseas sales, was noted as the most prominent businessman in the Park Chung Hee regime.

It is said in the business world that Park became close since he learned that Kim's father was a Daegu teacher's gift.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kim continued to focus on 'world management', as emphasized in his book 'The World Is Wide and There Is a Lot to Do'.

In particular, with the collapse of Eastern Europe in the 1990s, the company took over or established auto factories in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Uzbekistan to promote global management.

As of the end of 1998, Daewoo had 589 overseas networks including 396 local subsidiaries and 152,000 overseas employees.

At that time, the deceased was famous for more than 280 days abroad.

However, the financial crisis in November 1997 led to the downfall of the global management myth.

The collapse accelerated as conflicts and frictions with the Kim Dae-jung government officials.

In March 1998, Kim, who was chairman of the FKI, focused on 'export theory', but the conflict with the bureaucrats still remained and the situation was pushed toward reform.

In 1998, the Daewoo Motors and General Motors (GM) joint ventures, which were considered the top priority of group restructuring at that time, were shaken, and financial institutions were issued a restriction on the issuance of corporate bills.

The situation deteriorated sharply at the time when a report was issued by a Japanese securities firm that the Daewoo Group's emergency bell was ringing.

Daewoo Group proposed restructuring plans to reduce 41 subsidiaries to 4 industries and 10 companies by the end of 1999. However, in August 1999, the group was dismantled as all subsidiaries were targeted for the workout.

Kim was sentenced to pardon in January 2008 after being sentenced to six years in prison in June 2006, a fine of 10 million won, and a fine of 17.95 trillion won in charges for leading Daewoo Group's accounting.

In his later years, he visited Vietnam as his “second hometown” to focus on fostering global youth entrepreneurship programs.

The deceased also argued that the dismantling of the Daewoo Group was due to a political decision error by economic bureaucrats, which was written in 2014 by Professor Shin-Seop, a professor at the National University of Singapore.

The deceased ended his life after a year of struggle without paying the 17 trillion won unpaid fines and taxes.

(Yonhap News / Photo = Yonhap News)