The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 49

49. Strange Export Success Stories

After the special bill passed and the one-year grace period ended, the real estate and financial assets of public officials and elected public figures were disclosed in the newspapers.

The citizens who read the articles were astonished.

“Is this guy trying to buy up all of Chungcheong Province?”

“That former assemblyman was ranting about being a beacon for the common people, but he bought land in every new city and became a rich landlord. How can an unjust landlord be for the common people!”

“Wow, how much do public servants even make? They say it’s a pittance, but they own 20 commercial buildings!”

“He pretended to be clean, saying he had a bank debt of ten million won, but he owns 40 houses. His monthly rent income is over five million won!”

The individuals involved made all sorts of excuses, claiming it was land inherited from their family or land they bought with the intention of returning to farming.

The prosecution arrested and suspended over 3,000 public officials who had leaked development plans for speculation.

That was just a sample case of over 3,000 people who were high-value, illicit speculators above a certain amount.

The second reform drastically changed the criteria for appointed and elected public nominations.

The top priority was integrity.

* * *

The President was well aware of the widening gap between large and small businesses driven by the export industry, which, despite ranking 60th in size, featured poor working conditions for laborers and economic concentration in large cities. These issues were not keeping pace with the rapidly expanding industry, triggering chronic social problems.

To map out the industrial landscape for the next 50 years, he extensively visited industrial sites, accompanied by officials from relevant ministries.

The first visit was to a wig factory in Yeongdeungpo Industrial Complex.

The Yeongdeungpo district of the Gyeongin Industrial Zone was established around 1920 with the construction of the Yeongdeungpo Leather Factory, railway workshops, and textile factories.

From the early stages of economic development, the government determined that increasing exports to earn foreign currency was the key to survival and focused the economy on fostering export industries.

The top export item in the 1950s was tungsten.

It was essential for military supplies, but consumption plummeted as the world entered the Cold War after the end of the war.

In the 1960s, the most urgent task for a country with no natural resources or modern industrial technology was to find competitive export items.

Thirty of the best marketing talents were selected and dispatched to famous department stores in England, France, and the United States, tasked with finding products that could be produced and exported from Korea.

However, there was little opportunity for Korean products to penetrate the market without well-developed heavy and chemical industries.

As they grew anxious from not finding a suitable product, they noticed Black people lining up in front of an American department store.

It was a line of Black people with tightly curled hair, waiting to buy wigs because their hair was difficult to manage.

The investigation team returned to Korea and reported.

“If we make wigs from Korean women’s hair and export them, we will definitely be competitive! Hair keeps growing, so there’s no need to worry about raw materials, and it’s a labor-intensive industry, so other countries won’t be able to catch up with our fast-working people.”

Around the wig production line, female workers sat close together, meticulously crafting delicate wigs with quick hand movements.

Many of these female workers had graduated from elementary school and flocked to the industrial complex to earn money and support their families.

They did whatever they were told, working 12 hours a day without holidays, even working overtime until they had nosebleeds.

Wig exports in the first year, 1964, amounted to $14,000. Thanks to the U.S. ban on imports of Chinese wigs the following year, exports increased more than tenfold to $1.55 million. In 1966, wig exports reached $10 million, $20 million in 1967, $30 million in 1968, and $50 million in 1969.

Korean wigs dominated the world market, becoming the top contributor to earning the foreign currency needed for economic development.

The number one export item in the 1960s was raw hair wigs.

Wigs were the hope of the Korean economy and the flower of exports at that time.

The President toured the wig factory.

Hundreds of female workers wearing headbands and gray work clothes were sewing wigs with the tireless dedication of silkworms.

*Hmm, they’re really working like humans are machines.*

After touring the factory, the President had a meal in the cafeteria.

The table was set with a feast of delicacies, including bulgogi [Korean marinated beef] hot pot and fresh seafood.

The President asked the factory manager.

“Is this what the workers eat too?”

“Pardon?”

“I see soybean paste soup [doenjang-jjigae] and seasoned bean sprouts on the menu over there. Why is the meal served now different?”

“Well, that’s….”

The factory manager was sweating profusely and couldn’t continue speaking.

The President asked.

“How many children do you have, Factory Manager?”

“Two sons and two daughters. Two high school students and two middle school students.”

“Would you let your daughters work here as wig factory workers after they graduate?”

“Oh, no. Why would I make them work in a difficult factory? I should send them to college and marry them off.”

“Aren’t these female workers someone else’s precious daughters?”

“…….”

“Do you think it’s right to make other people’s daughters work in a factory where you don’t want to send your own children, Factory Manager?”

“I, I’m sorry. I will improve it.”

“If China resumes wig exports and Southeast Asia starts exporting wigs like us and competes at half the price, what will you do to survive, Factory Manager?”

“Well, I’ll give preferential treatment to skilled workers to increase productivity. The more experienced the female workers are, the higher their skill level and productivity, Your Excellency.”

“In China, raw hair prices and labor costs are less than half of Korea’s. Is cutting slow female workers and increasing the working hours of skilled female workers your solution?”

“Yes….”

Even as he answered, the factory manager didn’t really know what was wrong.

“You are currently enjoying the early boom of the wig industry with human-wave tactics [relying on sheer numbers of workers], receiving even business ideas from the export promotion fund. What exactly is your contribution to the wig factory, Factory Manager?”

“…….”

One moment, ministers came to give medals to the export industry soldiers, but the President was asking about the factory manager’s merits and demerits.

“I don’t know if earning foreign currency as an export soldier is patriotism, but that money doesn’t go to the country; it goes into the factory manager’s pocket. Even if you are replaced by another factory manager, or even if a professional manager who is paid half your salary is appointed, wouldn’t this factory run better?”

“…….”

“But those female workers are irreplaceable. If there are no female workers, the factory will stop immediately.”

The factory manager’s face turned pale.

“Factory Manager.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

“What exactly is your contribution to the wig factory? The factory manager stole the industrial export medal with the foreign currency earned by the female workers.”

“I, I’m sorry.”

“It’s a big mistake to think that the factory belongs to you, Factory Manager. Share the money you earn with the production workers here.”

“Yes, I understand, Your Excellency!”

“Change the working environment and increase welfare. How can you work in a place like this where even dogs don’t eat the slop, the ventilation is not proper, your feet are cold in winter, and you get heat rash in summer?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Change everything to the extent that your children can work here. I will watch with my own eyes.”

The factory manager shouted in a rigid posture.

“Your Excellency, I will keep that in mind!”

At that time, public restrooms in terminals, government offices, military bases, schools, and reserve army training camps had containers for collecting urine.

This urine was also a successful export item.

Urokinase is an ingredient that prevents blood clots in blood vessels and is the main ingredient in stroke treatment drugs, which was extracted from human urine at the time.

Green Cross collected urine to make urokinase.

Men practiced patriotism in white plastic containers, looking at the walls with the phrase ‘Even one drop in the container!’

The urine collected from all over the country underwent a chemical refining process and was reborn as a pharmaceutical export item, a high-value-added product with a price of $2,000 per kilogram (2.1 million won at the current exchange rate).

In the late 1980s, as most toilets were converted to flush toilets, the urine collection containers disappeared.

The next export factory visited by the President was a place that bureaucrats had never been to.

White steam billowed from a crude slate chimney, and the smell of chemicals stung the nose.

The river was flowing black with dye flowing out of the factory, and a foul fishy smell was in the air.

The entourage strongly dissuaded the President from visiting this factory.

However, the President insisted on visiting with officials from relevant ministries.

As soon as he entered the factory, the first thing that caught his eye was a mountain of black-gray objects piled up on one side of the yard.

The President asked the anxious factory manager.

“What is that?”

“It’s the raw material, rats. Dead rats.”

This was a factory that produced rat skins.

They had been told this morning that they would be visiting suddenly, and they had cleaned up, but the rats brought in this morning had not yet finished unloading.

When expensive mink became popular overseas, an exporter skinned rats, processed them, and made products that had a softness, color, gloss, and feel that were as good as mink.

Rat skin, known as ‘Korean Mink,’ was unexpectedly well-received in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

A famous Japanese import-export company offered to negotiate imports with the condition of 35 cents per hide (about 400 won at the current exchange rate) and 70,000 hides per month.

At the time, Korea was conducting a massive rat-catching campaign, making it a win-win export item that caught both rats and foreign currency.

Korea Fur Industry, which earned foreign currency by making overcoats, hats, and handbags directly from raw material exports, was recognized as an exporter of merit in 1972 and received a presidential citation.

However, the blood created while peeling the skins of dead rats and the toxic gases and toxic substances generated when processing and dyeing the leather were flowing directly into the river, polluting it.

The President said to the factory manager.

“You’re catching rats and exporting them, and you’re working hard as an export soldier.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency!”

“But if the river is polluted like this, environmental problems that are bigger than the belly button [more significant than they appear] will occur later. The government will support sewage treatment facilities, so please do your best to manage the wastewater you discharge.”

“I understand, Your Excellency!”

The next successful export item was none other than squirrels.

In the 1960s, squirrels were preferred as pets in France, Belgium, and Japan.

Korean squirrels were popular because of their clear back stripes, small size, and cute appearance.

In 1962, 655 squirrels were sent to Japan for $1 each, and for about 10 years, as many as 500,000 squirrels were exported.

Japan also trained wild squirrels imported from Korea and re-exported them to France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The President gave instructions at the meeting where he heard the export status.

“Let’s ban the export of squirrels altogether, fearing their extinction.”

The export of squirrels was completely banned.

* * *

The President toured dozens of factories, listening to the voices of the field.

“Large corporations are devouring our small and medium-sized businesses indiscriminately. They are taking away our technology and technicians with money, so small and medium-sized businesses are helpless.”

“Large companies with export companies are given low-interest loans, but our small and medium-sized businesses are using high-interest rates because our collateral is poor. This is not fair competition from the beginning. Please save small and medium-sized businesses, Your Excellency!”

At that time, large corporations were indiscriminately absorbing small and medium-sized businesses through octopus-style management [a diversified and aggressive business strategy].