Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

A Electronics’ CEO Park sat on a bench outside the Ahn Jung Geun Memorial Hall. Since it was a weekday, there were not many visitors there. A tree provided a good shade to the seating area where the bench was situated, and Gun-Ho joined CEO Park and sat on the bench while holding his canned coffee.

Gun-Ho could see the parking lot where his Bentley was parked at from the bench which he was sitting on. Chan-Ho was keeping the car’s four doors open to ventilate, and he was taking a rest while sitting on a rock nearby while listening to music.

A Electronics’ CEO said, “Mr. President Goo, it’s hard to run a business, isn’t it?”

“It is, but it’s also fun sometimes.”

“Well, maybe you are less stressed than people like me who are hired to run a business since you are running your own business.”

“A Electronics has more than 10,000 workers, doesn’t it? It must not be easy to manage all those workers, and the management system must be complex.”

“It’s not a one-person work, of course. I have highly competent workers in the management team. The number of our executive officers only is exceeding 30.”

“Wow! 30 executive officers? That’s a lot.”

“If you think of the number of our workers, it’s not a lot at all. We currently have 12,000 workers, so it’s like we have 1 executive officer per 400 workers.”

“Wow. That means you have to win over 400 workers to become an executive officer at your company.”

Silence filled the air for a moment.

A Electronics’ CEO took a sip of his canned coffee before continuing to talk.

“I’ve heard that Mr. Minister Jin-Woo Lee presided over your wedding, right?”

“Yes, he did.”

“He must become a meaningful person to you in your life… What do you think of Mr. Minister Jin-Woo Lee?”

“I believe that he is a good person.”

“Mr. Minister Lee is a politician.”

“That’s right.”

“The position of a minister in the government is not a long-lasting job. He has been in that position for more than two years already. It’s about the time for him to leave that position.”

“Well, I guess that he will take another position in the government.”

“I think he is more interested in becoming a member of Congress. It seems that the two political parties have already started contacting him.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. He must be very popular in politics.”

“Speaking of which… What I’m going to tell you now should be kept between you and me. You can’t tell anyone no matter what happens, okay?”

“What are you saying?”

“In order to become a member of Congress or to go further, you need money.”

“It is probably so.”

“It takes money for Mr. Minister Jin-Woo Lee to get into Congress.”

“Money would be the last thing that he would worry about, wouldn’t it? He is the son-in-law of A Group’s Chairman.”

“The people who oppose him would keep an eye on A Group’s movement, especially the flow of their money. If they catch any of A Group’s financial activity related to Mr. Minister Lee’s campaign, it will damage the company severely.”

“Hmm.”

“So, I want to make a proposal to you. Can you join me to make a secret fund for his political activities?”

“Slush fund for his political activities? My company is not capable of making that much money to get involved in politics. My company is a small factory with a few hundreds of workers manufacturing automobile parts.”

“I’m not asking you to provide funds to us like that. I will make your company—GH Mobile—become one of A Group’s vendor companies.”

“Huh? What did you just say? Are you saying that you will place product orders from GH Mobile?”

“Yes, we can make secret funds that way.”

“Secret funds… I don’t think it’s possible. As you know well already, a registered business entity like us can’t make any expenses without producing corresponding receipts. I must produce tax invoices for every transaction accurately with the tax office.”

“I’m not asking you to use the traditional way to make slush funds that were used in the old days. I’m asking you to do so without breaking any law.”

“We can do that legally?”

A Electronics’ CEO had a sip of his coffee and then looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear their conversation. There was no one around them. All they could hear at that moment was birds singing.

“We will let you sell your products to us, and you let us own a part of GH Mobile by giving us some of its company’s shares.”

“GH Mobile’s shares?”

“You don’t transfer the company shares to Mr. Minister Lee, but you give them to his father.”

“Huh? To his father?”

“If your company’s shares are transferred to Mr. Minister Jin-Woo Lee or any other young person, it could raise a question about the source of money to buy them.”

“Well, please allow me to ask you this. Did you already talk with Mr. Minister Lee about this? Is he aware of the deal?”

“No, Mr. Minister Lee has no idea about it. His spouse doesn’t know either. This is just my personal plan and a proposal to you.”

That hit Gun-Ho’s head.

‘Of course, it is. If something goes wrong, CEO Park will have to take full responsibility by bringing in another person who is more responsible or something without making any connection whatsoever to Mr. Minister Lee.’

A Electronics’ CEO Park continued talking without looking at Gun-Ho. He was gazing vacantly into space.

“The reason why I visited your company in Jiksan Town the other day was that I wanted to make sure that your company is capable of supplying products to our company. I needed to know that if it’s large enough to produce a certain volume of products. And, it was good enough. As you are already well aware, many first vendor companies of A Electronics are generating more than a trillion won yearly.”

“Hmm.”

“If Mr. Minister Jin-Woo Lee’s father receives dividends from your company lawfully, we can provide Mr. Minister Lee money for his political activities. No one would say anything for a father’s financial support toward his son’s political activities. Look at our former President YS. His father was in the fishing industry. Until he was elected as the president of this country, his father provided him with funds using the money that he made from his business. Of course, President YS had his own secret funds, but his father’s financial help was not insignificant.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you know why I chose you to do this together to support Mr. Minister Lee?”

“Why is that?”

“First of all, in my opinion, you seem to be trustworthy. Of course, the fact that Mr. Minister Lee officiate your wedding triggered my interest in you. Moreover, self-made successful people like you—Mr. President Goo—are so smart that they don’t make any unnecessary talk to others. Also, they are extremely patient when they think they have to be.”

“Do you think I am that sort of person?”

“Secondly, your company is not yet a publicly-traded company, but it’s about to register with KOSDAQ. It is very good timing to obtain the company’s shares because once the company goes public, the price of its shares will dramatically increase. In addition, a large stock transaction of a public company must be disclosed, and it could well draw public attention. Therefore, our company’s department of planning and coordination has been investigating GH Mobile quietly for the past several months.”

“An investigation on GH Mobile?”

“And it made a determination that GH Mobile would be the best fit for our purpose. It was an ideal choice for us. The size of GH Mobile and its owner president’s character made a good combination to serve our goal. I don’t think we would be able to create an ideal combination like this even if we wanted to.”