The Dragon’s claw

The most famous companies

and logos of Korea in the world

Since 70s to 90s of twentieth century the Miracle on the Han River happens in Korea (한강의 기적, Hangangeui Kijeok). Economy of Korean peninsula booms and Korea joins the streak of Four Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons together with

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (아시아의 네 마리 용, 亞洲四小龍). Economic miracle begins during the government of Park Chung-hee (박정희, 朴正熙 1917 – 1979) who ruled since 1963 to 1979 and 1998 Seoul Olympics are the miracle’s peak. The entire world in that occasion could know the power and liveliness of Korean economy based on chaebol (재벌, “monopoly, business family”) business conglomerates which are similar to Japanese zaibatsu (財閥). As it is usual in Far Eastern conglomerates, chaebol deal with many fields, from electronics to automotive, from construction to finance, from chemistry to food and shipbuilding. Korean shipyards are until nowadays the engine of Korean economy. Korea is leader for the value of produced ships and it was the biggest producer of ships since 2004 until when China recently surpassed it. The most important chaebol have branches exclusively involved in shipbuilding like Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, the former Daewoo Heavy Industries. STX (STX그룹) is an

industrial giant specialized in shipbuilding only and it owns also shipyards around the world, Europe included. Samsung (삼성그룹, 三星, “Three Stars”) is one of the most famous Korean brands in the world. Samsung was founded in 1938 in Daegu by Lee Byung-chull (이병철, 李秉喆, 1910 – 1987) and at the beginning it was a trading company in food, insurance and retail business. At the end of 60s Samsung begins its adventure in electronics and nowadays it is a giant of world economy with a turnover like the 12% of Korean GDP. Its products range over a wide variety of subjects, from household appliances to mobile phones, from computers to televisions, LCD screens and air conditioners. Samsung has also a construction branch called Samseong Mulsan (삼성물산) which was involved in the erection of some of the highest skyscrapers of the world like

Taipei 101 in Taiwan and Petronas Towers in Malaysia. In automotive field, Samsung Motor was almost entirely sold to Renault which owns the 80%. Samsung logo is today a blue oval with the company name in white letters nevertheless the old logos showed the three stars of the name Samsung. The other giant of Korean electronics is LG Electronics (LG전자). LG was founded in 1958 from the union of the companies Lucky dealing with housewares and Goldstar dealing with appliances. The name LG derived from the initials L and G of two companies even if now LG is read as the motto “Life’s Good” and its logo is a red circle with L and G letters which form a stylized smiling face. Automotive industry is the other pillar of Korean economy. Daewoo (대우, 大宇, “Great Universe”) was one of the biggest producers of motor vehicles of the world. After 1997 Asian financial crisis it was sold to American General Motors. Hyundai (현대, 現代, “Modernity”), founded in 1947 in Ulsan, was in the beginning a construction company and then started to deal with electronics, finance and

above all automotive. Its logo is an italic H circumscribed in a silver oval. Hyundai acquired Kia Motors (기아자동차 주식회사, 起亞自動車株式會社, “Rising out of Asia”) in 1998 and its name became Hyundai Kia Automotive Group (현대자동차 그룹). Nowadays it is the fourth world's leading producer of motor vehicles and the second in Asia after Japanese Toyota. Hanjin (한진, 韓進, “Progress of Korea”), founded in 1945, is one of world’s leaders of logistics and oceanfreight and it owns many ships and containers. Its logo is a light blue circle with an inscribed round H which slightly resembles the shape of Korean national symbol taegeuk (태극, 太極). Korean Air Lines (대한항공, 大韓航空), the flag carrier founded in 1962, is in Hanjin group too and its red and blue logo is very similar to taegeuk as well. The only Korean competitor of Korean Air is Asiana Airlines (아시아나 항공, 아시아나 航空), founded in 1988, which connects Korea with many destinations above all in Far East. Lotte (롯데그룹, Japanese 株式会社ロッテ) is a leading company in food and confectionery both in Korea and in Japan and Asia. It was founded in 1948 in Tokyo by Shin Kyuk-Ho (신격호, 辛格浩) also known as Shigemitsu Takeo (重光 武雄)

with Japanese name. Lotte's ginseng-flavoured chewing gums are famous not only in Far East. Lotte’s logo is a red circle with a L divided into three vertical wavy in lower part segments. The biggest and oldest Korea’s department store is Shinsegae (신세계, 新世界, “New World”), which was originally the Korean branch of Japanese department store Mitsukoshi (株式会社三越) opened in 1930 in Gyeongseong (경성, 京城, “Capital City”), old name of Seoul during the Japanese rule. Shinsegae’s logo is a red flower with seven petals. Seven is one of the lucky numbers in Korea like in China and Japan. The “claw” of Korean companies operating in many fields are widespread across the world and they bring Korea from East to all foreign countries.

Floriano Terrano