Comments by "capmidnite" (@capmidnite) on "The Debt-Fueled Collapse of Korea’s Daewoo Group" video.

  1. When you owe $1 million to the bank, it's your problem. When you owe $100 million to the bank, it's the bank's problem.
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  2. Ssang Yong is a very niche Korean automaker, largely unknown outside of South Korea. However, in the early 1990s Mercedes Benz found them good enough to do some technology and platform sharing with them. Ssang Yong's Chairman sedan is based on the E-class and their SUVs used MB drivetrains.
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  3. I'm still trying to figure out how 1% control of a typical Korean company translates to a controlling interest in the whole group by the founding family. I "get" how cross-holding works in theory but why would the other shareholders put up with this arrangement?
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  4.  @mrwideboy  I believe the quote is attributed to J Paul Getty.
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  5. The short history is that there was this Miracle on the Han in which the South Koreans rose from Third World status to First World through sheer grit and determination, coupled with ever rising exports and climbing up the value chain (from wigs to textiles to cheap electronics to semiconductors). What the Koreans will never directly acknowledge is that Japanese colonization brought to Korea modern education and infrastructure (like Taiwan and their colonization by the Japanese). It was true the Japanese built an economy designed to serve their interests, but they did introduce mass education and the rail lines they built are still used today. After they left, a small nucleus of native Korean technocrats, engineers and professionals remained. The best university in Korea (SNU) has its roots in Keijo Imperial University, for example. The Korean War brought an influx of American military contracts and know-how (many Korean construction companies got their start working with the US Army Corps of Engineers).
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  6. Most older fridges from any manufacturer tend to last.
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  7. There are still older apartment complexes in South Korea with the Daewoo logo on them.
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  8.  @restojon1  I always wondered how they managed to convince Daimler Benz to strike up a partnership with them.
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  9.  @Dave_Sisson  The United States still makes its own aircraft carriers, submarines and other military ships. And the outdated Jones Act which requires domestic shipping to use USA-made ships keeps a little bit of commercial shipbuilding capacity alive.
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  10. It's a gun so hopefully it's reliable! Can't say the same about their cars, though.
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  11.  @richardbloemenkamp8532  Fair enough, their earlier model lineup looked very generic and even their current designs can pass for something from China, for example. The current lineup of Pyeonghwa Motors from North Korea looks like it could have been made by anyone too.
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  12.  @thor8086  And don't ask a Taiwanese their opinion about Korean baseball.
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