The 30 leading south Korean monopoly capitalists lost a combined
$1,191,600,000 on the Korea Stock Market during 1996. The overall
market value of the stocks owned by the heads of the top 30 Korean
business groups plunged that much during 1996 due to the continuous
"bearish bourse" in south Korea.
This represents a 36.75 percent decrease in the market value
of the stocks owned by these 30 monopoly capitalists. Of the 30
business heads, Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung, was subjected to
the greatest individual loss with a decrease of 65.8 percent of his
total stock portfolio, over $639 million worth. Lee's losses are
largely attributed to the grave crisis faced by Samsung's main
company stock issue, Samsung Electronic Co., which has seen its
export sales and revenue plummet because of a huge drop in
semiconductor demand in the global computer industry and vicious
competition. Particularly damaging was a nosedive in the price of
semiconductors and memory chips. For example, the price of a
16-megabit dynamic random access memory, DRAM, chip fell from last
year's price tag of $50 a piece to just $8.
Cho Choong-hoon, chairman of Hanjin, was next with his stock
holdings plunging $151.38 million in value, a decrease of 45.5
percent. Daewoo's Kim Woo-choong followed with a loss of $139.86
million, a decline of 34.6 percent. Among the top 30 monopoly
capitalists, Daewoo's Kim Woo-choong holds the largest amount in
stocks, with some 26.5 million shares registered under his
name. In an effort to stem the decline in the Korea Stock
Exchange and to save the fortunes of these monopoly capitalists,
the south Korean fascist government, several weeks ago, ordered the
three main government pension funds to buy large amounts of the
stocks issued by the biggest south Korean companies. The purchases
were so enormous that they have temporarily stopped the decline in
stock prices. In making this risky manoeuvre the south Korean
puppet government revealed its total allegiance to the monopoly
capitalists and U.S. imperialists who also have much riding on the
Korea Stock Exchange and south Korean monopolies. This same
government just rammed through parliament a revised labor code
that attacks the rights and standard of living of the Korean
working class.
The worldwide economic crisis is particularly hitting the
"Tiger economies" of South-east Asia. Their economies are tightly
tied with the big imperialists and have very little internal
strength. Any drop in global market demand or increase in
competition is extremely damaging to the overall viability of these
economies. In addition, the most powerful imperialists are quite
capable of shifting any economic difficulties onto the backs of
their puppets.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
