leaders died—at least not to my knowledge. But Samsung was undergoing a
similar cultural process as leadership was transferred within the family to
the next generation.
“South Koreans cannot seem to get enough of the family behind
Samsung, whose mystery-shrouded inner workings many liken to those of
another famous Korean clan: the Kim family that rules North Korea,” The
New York Times reported.
Chairman Lee and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un are both the third sons
of their fathers but managed to inherit their leadership positions. Chairman
Lee’s older brother, like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s older half-brother,
was effectively banished from the company and was alienated and
unhappy.
The comparison, said Bruce Cumings, a legendary historian of Korea at
the University of Chicago and the head of its history department, was “very
apt.” “It’s a very basic Korean trait that trust rarely extends beyond one’s
family, and that includes the Samsung family,” he said.
North and South Korea are two vastly different countries, but they have
a shared history and culture of Japanese militarist and Confucian
influences, as well as shared family links. North Korea’s and Samsung’s
common heritage shows itself in five traditions: the extreme reverence for
family dynasties; the belief that their strength is derived from an ethnic
bloodline; the promulgation of military-like rituals, ceremonies, and
slogans; nationalistic paranoia and distrust of outsiders; and the veneration
of a supposedly wise, paternalistic emperor-like leader.
To illustrate this, try a brief thought experiment. Suppose the South had
won the American Civil War, and seceded. Both the United States of
America—formerly the Northern states—and the newly formed
Confederate States of America would have kept their shared heritage,
history, and family ties. Both would have essentially kept their “American”
identity. The same is true in the real world of North Korea and South Korea
today.
—
LET ME GIVE YOU another example of these similar cultural practices. In
2010 a Samsung employee tipped me off to a leaked video of Samsung
recruits standing in formation before a scoreboard displaying a motto. In
black-and-white rococo regalia, including a cravat—attire as ornate as the