The Big Take
Powerful Families Who Dominate South Korea Face an Investor Revolt
The country’s political turmoil is increasing the urgency to boost its flagging stock market and reform its powerful conglomerates.
A banner reading “Let’s save Korea Zinc” outside the company's smelting factory in Ulsan, South Korea, in October.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg한글 번역: 한국의 재벌들, 투자자들의 반발에 직면하다
South Korea’s oligarchs have held near unchallenged power over almost every aspect of the economy for half a century. They run the biggest companies, command political clout and engineer arcane business deals that enrich themselves, often at the expense of their shareholders.
Now, regulators and investors are fighting back. And the potential ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol after his short-lived declaration of martial law is likely to supercharge the process.