Mr. Kim Woo-Choong
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Mr. Kim Woo-Choong was born in Taegu, Korea on December 19, 1936. He graduated brom Kyunggi High School in Seoul and then attended Yonsei University in 1960, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.
In 1961, Mr. Kim (In Korea, the first name is someones surname), served on the Economic Development Council in Korea for a year. Shortly thereafter, he joined Hansung Industrial Co., Ltd. where he attained the rank of director. Becoming restless, he decided to establish his won textiles trading business, Daewoo Industrial Co., Ltd., in 1967. He started out with five employees and U$10,000 in capital.
Within five years, Daewoo Industrial was Koreas second largest exporter. In 1976, the Korean government asked Mr. Kim and Daewoo to acquire an ailing heavy industry company. Within a year, Daewoo had turned this company around so that it was able to become profitable. This was one of the turning points in Mr. Kims and Daewoos story. Now they were able to think about becoming a truly international conglomerate.
In 1978, Mr. Kim established the Daewoo Foundation, a nonprofit organization that built and operates five hospitals in rural Korea. It also supports the activities of many scholars and researchers. He also established the Daewoo Educational Foundation, which supports the Ajou University of Korea, in 1977 and the Seoul Press Foundation in 1978. In 1978 and 1980, Mr. Kim made endowments to the Daewoo Foundation equal to his entire personal holdings in Daewoo.
In the 1980s, Mr. Kim continued to take Daewoo into new international markets and expanded its global network of branch offices, which continue to help Daewoo today in its globalization and localization efforts.
Today, Mr. Kim continues to be a guiding force for Daewoo. In 1997, he made a total of 24 overseas trips to 42 different nations, spending a total of 237 days travelling to help further Daewoos globalization plans. During these trips, he oversees ongoing projects, negotiates new ones, and meets with the officials of various governments and business leaders.
A respected business leader worldwide, Mr. Kim holds many honorary degrees from both Korean and other universities as well as numerous honors and awards from many governments. Currently, he also serves as the Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries.