Memories of South Korea, the Land of Morning Calm

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I mentioned in the covering note of my blogs that following the posting of my 1974 travel blogs, it was my intention to document some highlights of the many business trips I took to visit our overseas customers during the period from 1999 to 2007 when I was representing Queensland Sugar (QSL). This blog will start that process. Rather than focus on individual trips, it is my plan to summarise the various visits, and highlights, from each country. I should point out that I am undertaking this exercise primarily for my own satisfaction and records, so if any readers get some enjoyment, or amusement, from these blogs, that will be a bonus. Given these travels occurred over an eight-year period, I shall date them all in 2000 so they will fit in the correct chronological sequence with my other blogs.

My travel log shows that I visited South Korea, our biggest customer at that time, fifteen times during this period. Australia provides well over half of Korea’s raw sugar requirements, where it is then refined into white sugar. South Korea does not produce any of its own cane or beet sugar. Three refiners operate in South Korea, owned by Cheil Jedang Corp (CJ), Samyang Corp, and TS Corp. These three refiners would group together as one negotiating bloc and QSL would tend to secure three-year term deals with them, of value in the billions of dollars, supplemented as required by spot cargoes. Their refineries were based in each of Seoul and Ulsan, so that is where I spent most of my time there. I used to stay at the impressive Hotel Shilla, high up near the TV tower, which gave a great panoramic view of the city.

One of the things I found fascinating, and entirely coincidental, was that in dealing with each of the President, Vice President and Marketing Manager from each of these three companies (9 people in all), we had surnames of 3 x Kim, 3 x Lee and 3 x Park. To make it more unusual, there was no overlap of family names in any company or in any position, each group had just one each of these names. Hierarchy is very important in Korea and this was best illustrated by two examples. In any meeting or negotiation, the senior Korean sat in the middle and his subordinates fanned out, in order of seniority on either side of him. Should a senior person enter the scene late, he would not take a chair at the end, but each of his subordinates would move a chair down to allow him to sit in the ‘correct’ place. Similarly, if out to dinner with say the President and Vice President, the former, more senior person, would do all their talking and the lower rank would occasionally just nod his head in agreement. If then the following night, you went out with that same Vice President and his Marketing Manager, suddenly the VP would revert to being the talker and the MM become the nodder!

It should come as no surprise that all senior executives that we dealt with were keen and very competitive golfers, so a lot of bonding and a little business was done on the golf course. I’m not the world’s greatest golfer but I was fortunate enough to play on many of Korea’s prestige golf courses and I learnt very early the rules of ‘customer golf’, where if you are playing with your hosts who are picking up the tab for the game and dinner afterwards, you might throw a putt or two to ensure you ended up on the losing side. Fortunately, I didn’t have to throw too many putts! The highlight for me was when I was invited by the three Presidents to join them for the weekend at ‘The Club at Nine Bridges’ on Jeju Island, an exclusive club developed by CJ Corp, who also sponsor most of the top ranked Korean women golfers. One aspect of that whole golfing scene I couldn’t get comfortable with is that many of these exotic courses had hot and cold communal baths to refresh yourselves after the round, and the concept of sitting buck naked alongside your Korean customers was a little out of my comfort level!

Drinking is also embedded deeply in Korean culture. Alcohol plays a significant role in celebrating holidays, honouring ancestors, making friends and doing business. Many a night was spent after dinner in some karaoke joint where the booze would flow freely. Amongst their favourites were Poktanju (‘bomb drinks’), where they inserted a shot glass of whisky into a large glass of beer and expected you to scull several of these. If that was not enough, there was also Soju, a clear, semi-sweet, distilled spirit made from rice, wheat etc, which was also presented in shot glasses for sculling. I learnt two anti-drinking strategies early in my Korean visits. I found that iced tea is the same colour as whiskey, so following the discrete donation of a few won under the counter, our hostesses could be persuaded to make this substitution for my particular drinks. Alternatively, if I knew we had a serious negotiation planned the following morning, I would take along one of my offsiders for the evening, with the instruction to stay out there kicking on with our hosts while I cried off early with my sleep apnea.

Their sophistication with the booze did not appear to extend to wine. At one of the Presidents’ dinners, our host advised that he had on hand a couple of bottles of an Australian wine called ‘Grongee’. He then proceeded to pull out two bottles of $800 Grange Hermitage, which he and his colleagues polished off as though it were lolly water.

Business in Korea at the start of this century was still very male oriented. I was invited to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of TS Corp, at which there were a total of 200 guests comprising senior staff, customers, suppliers, politicians etc, and of these, only 5 were female. At the conclusion of the formal proceedings, the ladies concerned were rushed off the premises so the men could get down to some serious drinking.

During one of my later visits, I ended our business early and had a day to spare, so I decided to visit a well-known ancient village, just out of Seoul, called Namsangol Hanok Village. One of my hosts was kind enough to offer me the company of one of their young female graduates to assist with any language difficulties. As I got more comfortable with this lass later in the day, I asked her how she felt working for a company where her boss was a man, his boss was a man etc etc, and quick as a flash she replied. “Things are going to change very quickly in Korea!” I wonder if she has made it to President yet!

Not surprisingly, we had a number of visits down under from Korean delegations over these years, and they were always happy to leave the serious business behind and try out our golf courses and our native animal parks. I’m not sure we were able to reciprocate with quite the same quality of night life, although rumour has it that they often kicked on alone after our festivities were over. Questions were never asked!

All in all, I would have to say that the Koreans were tough negotiators but excellent hosts and I’m proud to say that I still stay in contact with a couple of them and exchange Xmas greeting, some 16 years after finishing up there.

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Comments

[Home and Away]

I look forward to your past blogs...
something I also did.

[D MJ Binkley]

Enjoyment bonus
We are going to South Korea for our first visit in February so I enjoyed this blog immensely. I have no doubt that young lady because very successful and probably president of the company. Change can be good. I look forward to exploring and meeting the people. Thanks for sharing.

[Nomad Old Farts]

South Korea
Great to hear from you again, guys. Take your winter woolies with you - it can still be pretty cold there in February!

[ayesha]

outback lunch menu
outback lunch menu Hello there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate!

[DaveandIssy]

Doing Business in Asia
I worked in Malaysia a bit where things weren't quite that hierarchical if I remember correctly. You wouldn't want to be late for too many Korean meetings if your seniority meant sitting next to the boss- very disruptive! But the drinking culture was very much there, and one local chief was notorious for having to prove that he could drink any westerner under the table.

[Nomad Old Farts]

Doing Business in Asia
I also spent a lot of time visiting my customers in Malaysia as it may not surprise you that they are (or were?) the biggest per capita consumers of sugar in the world. I agree that it was much more relaxing dealing with those guys. I didn't get away that often in Malaysia but did spend a great weekend on Langkawi Island, which I shall blog about in due course.