BY BOBBY MCGILL – MAR 23, 2020 he rise of Samsung to become one of the most widely recognizable brands in the world is a remarkable success
Huge pension body continues to protect troubled corporate dynasties, undermining reform efforts
By Geoffrey Cain
Asia Times
Mar 23, 2019
The multi-Oscar-winning film Parasite, a bitterly comic-tragic satire on class divisions and rivalries in South Korea, owes much of its success to the 61-year-old granddaughter of the founder of Korea’s largest chaebol or conglomerate, Lee Byung-Chull.
By Donald Kirk
Forbes
Feb 11, 2020
A U-turn over a free-trade agreement he once championed has critics of the South Korean president questioning both his loyalty to the US and his ability to deliver a more equitable economy
By David Josef Volodzko
South China Morning Post
Mar 4, 2018
Business clans have dominated the country’s economy for decades – but their time may finally be up.
By Geoffrey Cain
Foreign Policy
Jun 23, 2017
Lotte is for many South Koreans and Japanese as lamblike a brand as Disney, but behind the amusements parks and cinemas lies a Machiavellian political saga that reads more like a scene from Game of Thrones than The Aristocats.
By David Josef Volodzko
South China Morning Post
Sep 3, 2016
SEOUL, South Korea — Ever since the 2008 economic crisis, Americans have bemoaned the impunity and influence-peddling of Wall Street.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Feb 14, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — Of course, China is renowned as a tough place to do business. But world’s biggest brand names have a long history of investing major bucks in booming South Korea — only to whiff.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Feb 2, 2015
SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is marching toward the next battlefield in its war against Apple. On Wednesday in Berlin, the Korean mega-corporation unveiled the long-anticipated Galaxy Gear, a wearable smartwatch set for release on Sept. 25.
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Sep 9, 2013
SEOUL, South Korea — He’s worked all his life to graduate from an elite university this year. But in a tight job market, Kim Jun-sang, 23, is worried about escaping his pileup of debt. Sound familiar?
By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World
Jan 18, 2013
What to read next:
Geoffrey Cain on Investigative Journalism, Authoritarian Power, and The Perfect Police State | In a wide-ranging conversation with Jennifer Grossman, CEO of The Atlas Society, investigative journalist Geoffrey Cain reflects on years spent reporting inside some of the world’s most restrictive regimes — and on the research behind his book The Perfect Police State: An Undercover Odyssey into China’s Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future.
For years, Tim Cook insisted Apple could change China from the inside. Instead, China changed Apple.
The latest evidence? Apple spent billions developing cutting-edge electric vehicle battery technology with Chinese automaker BYD, only to watch its innovations become the cornerstone of BYD’s rise to global electric vehicle dominance. Apple walked away with nothing. China walked away with everything.
This isn’t just another story about corporate research and development gone wrong. It’s a cautionary tale about how even America’s most valuable company has become trapped in China’s web of technological control — and how that web is about to tighten even further.