Daewoo: Exile Of The Patriarch

Armed with just $10,000, Kim Woo-Choong started the Daewoo group in the late 1960s by making cheap shirts for U.S. mass marketers. Partly thanks to his connections with South Korean governments, he was able to build Daewoo into a $57 billion industrial powerhouse, making autos, ships, electronics, and a wide array of other goods. The chain-smoking, silver-haired tycoon became a roving ambassador, circling the world in search of the next deal.

Now, the 59-year-old Kim is headed into exile. Officially, Daewoo says the boss's decision to base himself in Vienna is not connected with his current trial on two charges of paying bribes to former President Roh Tae Woo, who is at the center of a $650 million corruption scandal. In court, Kim has repeatedly said his payments to Roh were political contributions, not bribes. If Kim is convicted, he is expected to be fined or win a suspended sentence instead of facing jail time.