1953 Bare-handed Tycoon - Chapter 416



Only Krnovel

416 – Dongbang Life Insurance Takeover Battle (1)

After meeting with Chairman Park and returning to Seoul, Kijo quickly began to build up his Vietnam-related business.

One of them was the acquisition of a life insurance company.

The company acquired a non-life insurance company in the 1950s.

It was a deep-rooted insurance company established in 1922 as ‘Dongyang Fire & Marine Insurance.’

The roots of this company, which became ‘Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance’ in Korean history, were ‘Chosun Fire & Marine Insurance’.

It was an insurance company established jointly by Koreans and Japanese. After liberation, the stocks owned by Japanese were transferred to the US military government and it became a public enterprise. In 1950, it was privatized and its name was changed to ‘Dongyang Fire & Marine Insurance’.

As soon as Kijo acquired Dongyang Fire & Marine Insurance, he changed the name to and made it mainly responsible for handling insurance of companies belonging to the Cheongsan Group.

Cheongsan Marine Insurance took charge of Cheongsan Marine Insurance’s ship insurance, Cheongsan Transportation’s automobile insurance, and Cheongsan Fire Insurance’s fire insurance for all Cheongsan Group’s factories and buildings.

However, the keynote speech was that insurance companies alone were not enough for the Vietnam War.

It was also necessary to run a life insurance company so that the life insurance of workers who went to Vietnam could be handled.

The keynote was that there was a company that I had been keeping an eye on.

It was ‘Dongbang Life Insurance’.

Dongbang Life Insurance was founded in 1957 and its headquarters were located in Samhwa Building, Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul.

It was the industry’s number one life insurance company, and it had never given up the number one spot for 58 years.

The secret was group insurance.

Dongbang Life Insurance achieved rapid growth through group insurance, and its first hit product was ‘workplace group insurance.’

Workplace group insurance is a retirement insurance product that provides a high interest rate upon retirement if a certain amount of money is saved each month.

At that time, there was no retirement allowance system, so it was very popular among office workers.

Contracts poured in from not only general companies but also schools and public institutions.

Dongbang Life Insurance surpassed 10 billion won in contracts within just one year of its founding as a group insurance company.

However, the interest rate guaranteed by Dongbang Life Insurance was the problem.

Dongbang, judging that it could not afford the future by guaranteeing interest rates that were too high, discontinued the product on its own.

And then, we pioneered the personal insurance market and launched , which also became a huge hit.

The product was a hit with parents at a time when there was a strong enthusiasm for education, and it sold like hotcakes as soon as it was released, but Dongbang discontinued the product again.

This time again, it was due to the guaranteed interest rate being too high.

After that, it swept the life insurance market by successively releasing and .

Dongbang Life Insurance used its number one sales network nationwide to sell individual insurance products in bulk to those working at public institutions.

They displayed their enormous power by selling individual insurance to 40,000 police officers and 30,000 railway workers as if it were group insurance.

Kijo was determined to acquire Dongbang Life Insurance by any means necessary.

Because now was the time to do so.

The death of Dongbang Life Insurance’s representative lecturer, Kang Eui-soo, was drawing near.

In the original history, Samsung acquired Dongbang Life Insurance after its founder Kang Eui-soo passed away.

However, Samsung’s acquisition of Dongbang Life Insurance did not produce synergy with Ankuk Fire & Marine Insurance, which was owned by Samsung.

Eventually, in 1967, four years after the acquisition, Dongbang Life Insurance was handed over to Hanjin Group.

The keynote speaker was confident that the combination of Cheonghwa Fire & Marine Insurance and Dongbang Life Insurance would create synergy.

Insurance was being considered for workers heading to Vietnam, miners and nurses heading to Germany, and for workers heading to the Middle East in the future.

And the plan was to reorganize education insurance, retirement insurance, and life insurance to provide new products with realistic interest rates.

Kijo first visited the hospital where Kang Su-gye was hospitalized.

Kang was hospitalized due to worsening liver cancer.

As Kijo entered the sickroom, Kang Su-su recognized him and smiled.

“Boss… … It’s been a while.”

“It’s finally time to meet you. President Kang… … .”

The two were connected by a typhoon.

When Typhoons Agnes and Sarah hit the Korean Peninsula, Kijo mobilized all of Cheongsan’s power to reduce the damage.

Gyeongbuk Yeongcheon, the hometown of Kang Eui-su, also benefited from this.

The two met through that connection, and Kang-su Kang expressed his gratitude to Ki-jo. At that time, Kang-su Kang was healthy.

However, Kang Eui-soo, who was now lying in the hospital bed, had ascites, his stomach was as swollen as a mountain, and his face had turned black as charcoal.

The keynote speech was that it was heartbreaking to see him nearing death.

Born in 1911, he was only 52 years old and established Korea’s best life insurance company, but he was destined to die after running the company for only 6 years.

“How are you feeling these days?”

The keynote speaker assumed that he was anticipating death and did not ask about the condition of his body.

“I’ve calmed down a lot. I’m accepting it… … .”

The keynote speaker brought a chair next to him as he lay in the hospital bed and sat down, then began to talk.

“As my time of death approaches, I miss my hometown a lot… My dream was to establish an educational city in Yeongcheon… … .”

He couldn’t continue speaking.

When Kijo met him, who had come to assess the damage to Yeongcheon, the two climbed up a hill and looked down at Yeongcheon.

There, Kang said this:

―I want to make my hometown Yeongju an educational city. It would be great to build everything from kindergartens to universities in the assistant field you see there. Yeongcheon is a transportation hub, so talented people from Daegu, Pohang, Gyeongju, Andong, and Yeongju will flock there.

The keynote was that it was a shame that his dream did not come true.

Kang said to Kijo.

“Life is so fleeting. Mr. President, don’t be too greedy and take your business slowly. Spending time with good people is the way to reduce regrets.”

The keynote speaker nodded.

That was the very thing that Kijo regretted when he died.

My biggest regret was not being able to treat the people I loved better and not being there for them.

“I was too greedy. I created too many companies without realizing that they would die so quickly… … .”

He smiled bitterly.

Keynote knew the companies he had founded.

He founded many companies, including Busan Construction (trading), Daehan Oil (oil industry), Korea Craft Export Association, Korea Galpo Corporation, Dongnam Securities, Dongwha Department Store, and Seoul Real Estate Corporation.

“I don’t know why they created something that can’t even be fixed… … I guess that’s just how humans are. They can’t see even an inch ahead of them, and it’s all because of greed… … .”

Instead of answering, Kijo grabbed Kang’s hand.

Then he said,

“President Lee Ki-jo, let me ask you a favor.”

“Please speak.”

“CEO, please build a school from kindergarten to university in my hometown of Yeongcheon on my behalf.”

Kijo was momentarily speechless at Kang’s unreasonable request.

However, Kijo soon realized that the request was to take charge of ‘Dongbang Life’ and prepared to respond that he would take over Dongbang.

Kang Su-su continued speaking.

“I have an only daughter, and she is just starting college… … .”

Kijo knew Kang’s daughter. Born in 1943, she was now 20 years old and would later become the wife of politician Kwon Young-gil.

He was the one who ran for president in 2002 and created the catchphrase, “Citizens, have your lives improved a lot?”

The keynote speech was to put aside business thoughts and focus on listening to the dying man’s story.

For now, it seemed like the best treatment and courtesy to him.

“Please take care of my daughter so that she can be well educated and marry a good man. Please. I have no one to ask for this favor… … .”

After saying that, Kang Su-su started to cry.

“I lived my life working hard… why is there no one I can trust and leave my daughter to… … .”

The keynote speaker handed him a handkerchief.

It was impossible for him, who had built the best life insurance company in the country, to worry about his daughter’s future.

But Keyjo knew why he was worried.

This may be because Dongbang Life Insurance knew that its future was uncertain because it recruited subscribers at too high an interest rate during its early days.

In particular, he must have known better than anyone that the company would not be able to handle the lump sum payment of group insurance collected from 1957 to 1958.

Kijo answered quickly, as he didn’t want him to get caught up in strong emotions since he was physically weak due to his illness.

“I will take responsibility for your daughter and take care of her studies and marriage.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lee. I trust you. I thought someone who helped the flood victims without any reward would listen to my request. I know you are a good person. But I am sorry for asking you to do something so unreasonable… … .”

“It’s not too much to ask. It’s okay.”

Kijo held Kang’s hands tightly with both of his.

Then he began to regret his past.

“I have done many bad things… When I was raising Dongbang Life, I received a lot of help from Jang Kyung-geun… … .”

The keynote speaker knew what he was talking about.

During the height of the Korean War, Kang Eui-soo, who was running a business in Busan, took care of the family of Jang Gyeong-geun, who was the Vice Minister of National Defense at the time.

And Jang Kyung-geun, who became the 14th Minister of Home Affairs, showed his gratitude by forcing police officers to join the group when he founded Dongbang Life Insurance.

There was a time when 10% of the salaries of police officers nationwide were forcibly deducted and put into Dongbang Life Insurance’s group insurance.

“I shouldn’t have done that then… It was basically stealing money from the police officers… … .”

Kang Su-su asked with tears of repentance in his eyes.

“There hasn’t been any news from Mr. Jang Kyung-geun lately…?”

“No. I’m sure he’s doing well in Japan.”

Jang Gyeong-geun, who was deeply involved in the 3.15 election fraud, escaped from the hospital where he was admitted and smuggled to Japan after the 5.16 incident occurred and he was arrested as the person responsible for the election fraud.

After that, he traveled to the United States, Brazil, and other places, but returned to Korea in 1977 as his chronic illness worsened, and died the following year.

“Mr. President, do you know why I am asking you this favor…? You don’t… … .”

“Please tell me.”

I asked him to tell me even though I knew the keynote.

“Dongbang Life Insurance is a company that looks flashy on the outside, but is rotten on the inside. I think the only one who can save this company is you, CEO, so I’m asking you this… … .”

The keynote speaker nodded.

There was no need to worry about that.

The keynote speech was that Dongbang Life Insurance was confident that it would invest its funds appropriately and meet the guaranteed interest rate.

Dongbang Life Insurance’s astronomical funds were invested in Pohang Iron and Steel Company and other businesses, which would bring in profits far greater than the guaranteed interest rate.

“CEO Kang Soo-soo, I will take over all of Dongbang Life Insurance’s affiliates.”

“Would you please do that? Thank you. If you do that, I think I can close my eyes comfortably. Thank you very much… … .”

Kang Su-gyeol put strength into the hand that Ki-jo was holding.

The keynote was that he felt a desire to go and solve all the problems he had caused while he was alive.

“I don’t have much time left, so I must hurry. I will immediately convey my intention to the board of directors and have Dongbang Life Insurance liquidated.”

The keynote speaker nodded.

But it was doubtful whether it would go that smoothly.

When Dongbang Life Insurance was founded, there were six partners and there were rumors that Samsung was pursuing an acquisition of Dongbang Life Insurance.

Although the largest shareholder was Kang Eui-soo, the acquisition of Dongbang Life Insurance could have been an uphill battle if Samsung had recruited six business partners.