Published : Dec. 25, 2012 - 20:29
Park Gee-won
Ancient oriental wisdom says having a snake in the house is a good omen because it means the family will never starve.
The snake in this case indicates individuals born under the zodiac sign of the “snake,” and if the saying is anything to go by, it looks as though there are some snake-borns who most definitely won’t be starving anytime soon.
Analyses of the local stock markets showed that there were some 456 billionaires in Korea who were born under the sign of the snake, according to Chaebul.com, a local web site devoted to corporate data.
And the myth goes on as the majority of these people turn sixty in the new year, a significant age for Koreans who place special meaning on the age, despite the fact people have long started to live past sixty.
The wealthiest executive among the snake-borns in terms of the value of stock portfolios was Huh Jin-soo, vice chairman of GS Caltex, who owned some 305.4 billion won worth of stocks.
Huh is a member of the GS owner family and is the younger brother of Huh Chang-soo, chairman of GS Group.
Huh Jin-soo
Koo Cha-yol
Also in the group was Koo Cha-yol, chairman of LS Group, who owned 188.4 billion won worth of stocks.
Park Gee-won, CEO and Chairman of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, was born in 1965, another year of the snake, who is next in line with over 100 billion won.
On the other side of the age bracket, there were some lucky youngsters who had the privilege of joining the group of two dozen individuals who were in their teens or 20s.
They were mostly the offspring of business tycoons and founders, including the son of Heesung Electronics president Koo Bon-sik ― brother of LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo ― and Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn’s son.
Among those in their 30s, the Daesang Group honorary chairman’s daughter was worth 47.1 billion won and the son of Huh Young-in, son of SPC Group chairman, was included in the billionaire club.
But young or old, most of the wealthy stockholders had one thing in common: they hailed from chaebol families.
When not considering money, there were a number of chief executives who although not as wealthy as those born with silver spoons in their mouths, are anticipated to show stellar performance in the year of the snake.
Cha Suk-yong, vice chairman of LG Household and Health Care, born in 1953 and turning sixty next year, is one, along with Lee Jong-chul, vice chairman of STX Group, who also will be 60.
At Samsung, there’s a handful of executives born under the sign of the snake, such as Park Sam-jin, CEO of Samsung SDI and Yoon Joo-hwa, head of Cheil Industries, who may be looking forward to the new year.
Meanwhile, in the financial sector, some high-profile executives were wielding power in their own right, although they might not be billionaires.
Ha Yung-ku
Ha Yung-ku, head of Citibank Korea, was born in 1953 and turns 60 next year. Ha is one of the most influential executives in the industry who started his executive career in 2001 when he became head of KorAm Bank, which was acquired by Citibank.
Ha Chun-soo, chairman of DGB Financial and CEO of Daegu Bank, is another individual born under the sign of the snake who is carving out a presence in the financial industry.
Since DGB entered the market in May last year, Ha has been recognized for adding affiliates and diversifying company operations to expand asset size.
Kim Seok-dong
Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, is also a snake-born financial sector executive, only he has stayed mostly on the administrative side, as most of his career spans regulatory services.
Despite the myriad of crises and failures under his helm, such as the savings banks insolvency run and failure to privatize top state-run banks, Kim is expected to carry out his term until 2014 due to a lack of personnel to fill his shoes when the new government is launched.
By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)