A Chollima statue in Pyongyang, North Korea.I saw an eerily similar slogan in the video of the Samsung recruiting
event, at the front of an army of recruits in formation: “We who have
become one.”
“Can you see our fighting spirit?” Mr. Han would ask me during my trip
to North Korea.
“Where is your fighting spirit?” Samsung executives would routinely
ask their employees, demanding that they work harder and faster.
I will never forget the day Kim Jong Il, the dictator of North Korea,
died on December 17, 2011. I was in London and about to return to Seoul.
North Korea’s news feeds broadcast videos of North Koreans crying and
shrieking as Kim’s corpse was carried by a black government limousine to
his final resting place, where he was to be embalmed and preserved. Later I
visited his mausoleum, where I saw his body resting behind a glass casing,
the room illuminated with a spooky red glow to help preserve the corpse.
Samsung’s employees, of course, didn’t break down in tears when their