BUSINESSPEOPLE from South Korea

Top 6

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South Korean Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous South Korean Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Sung Jae-gi (1967 - 2013)

With an HPI of 65.34, Sung Jae-gi is the most famous South Korean Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 188 different languages on wikipedia.

Sung Jae-gi (Korean: 성재기 [səːŋ dʑɛgi]; September 11, 1967 – July 26, 2013) was a South Korean men's rights activist. Sung founded and was the first chairman of Man of Korea, a men's rights group advocating the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family—whose Korean name (여성부; 女性部) translates as "Ministry of Women"—and demanded compensation for the South Korean military-service requirement. During the early 21st century, Sung led the South Korean anti-feminist movement opposing female-preferential policies. In early adulthood he was a businessman, and in October 1999 he participated in the movement opposing the abolition of preferential treatment for discharged soldiers. Sung opposed the abolition of the Hoju system, and later participated in men's-rights activities. In 2006 he founded the Association of Anti-Feminism and Male Liberation. In 2007 he founded the Association for the Abolition of the Ministry of Women. The following year, Sung founded Man of Korea and was its chairman from 2008 until his death in 2013. His business activities included a nightclub and a consulting and executive search company. From 1999 until his death Sung argued for the restoration of the Korean Army bonus points system (군가산점 제도). During the early 2010s he was an activist for the abolition of women-only facilities. In 2011, he began offering assistance and counseling to battered husbands, househusbands, teenage runaways and male and child victims of violent crime. Sung opened a shelter for homeless persons, male victims of violent crime, teenage runaways and gay and transgender people. From 1999 to 2013, Sung was part of the liberal movement and the movement to abolish the women's special-benefits policy. Near the end of his life Sung was reportedly up to ₩100 million in debt. On July 25, 2013 he posted on the Man of Korea website his intention to commit suicide. The next day, Sung jumped from the Mapo Bridge in Seoul. His body was found four days later. Sung wrote under the pen names Blue Wolf (Korean: 푸른늑대), Tongbalbass (Korean: 똥발바쓰) and Tongbal (Korean: 똥발), and his nickname was Shimheon (심헌 審軒 or 심헌 心軒), Chongjuk(청죽 靑竹). chinese name was Im-sung(임성 臨聖). His family is part of the Changnyeong Sung clan (창녕성씨 昌寧成氏).

2. Lee Byung-chul (1910 - 1987)

With an HPI of 65.11, Lee Byung-chul is the 2nd most famous South Korean Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Lee Byung-chul (Korean: 이병철; 12 February 1910 – 19 November 1987) was a South Korean business magnate who founded the Samsung Group, the country's largest chaebol (conglomerate). Lee founded Samsung in 1938, at the age of 28. He is recognized as the most successful business magnate in South Korea's history.

3. Lee Kun-hee (1942 - 2020)

With an HPI of 59.93, Lee Kun-hee is the 3rd most famous South Korean Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Lee Kun-hee (Korean: 이건희; Hanja: 李健熙, Korean: [iːɡʌnɣi]; 9 January 1942 – 25 October 2020) was a South Korean business magnate who served as the chairman of the Samsung Group from 1987 to 2008, and again from 2010 until his death in 2020. He is also credited with the transformation of Samsung to one of the world's largest business entities that engages in semiconductors, smartphones, electronics, shipbuilding, construction, and other businesses. Since Lee Kun-hee became the chairman of Samsung, the company became the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones, memory chips, and appliances. He was the third son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul. With an estimated net worth of US$21 billion at the time of his death, he was the richest person in South Korea, a position that he had held since 2007. He was convicted twice, once in 1996 and subsequently in 2008, for corruption and tax evasion charges, but was pardoned on both instances. In 2014, Lee was named the world's 35th most powerful person and the most powerful Korean by Forbes's list of the world's most powerful people along with his son, Lee Jae-yong.

4. Shin Kyuk-ho (1921 - 2020)

With an HPI of 58.57, Shin Kyuk-ho is the 4th most famous South Korean Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Shin Kyuk-ho (Korean: 신격호; 3 November 1921 – 19 January 2020), known in Japan as Shigemitsu Takeo (重光 武雄), was a Zainichi Korean businessman known for being the founder of the South Korean-Japanese conglomerate Lotte Corporation (Group), now one of the largest chaebols in South Korea. During the bubble economy of Japan from the 1980s to the 1990s, he became the fourth wealthiest person in the world according to American business magazine Forbes in 1988, setting the record for the greatest wealth ever achieved by a Korean. Driven by a lifelong desire to contribute to his homeland, South Korea (Republic of Korea), his dream of the Lotte World Tower, the sixth tallest building in the world and the highest in the Korean peninsula, was realized in 2016, and he died in 2020.

5. Choi Soon-sil (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 47.88, Choi Soon-sil is the 5th most famous South Korean Businessperson.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Choi Soon-sil (Korean: 최순실; Korean pronunciation: [t͡ɕʰø.sun.ɕil]; born June 23, 1956) is a South Korean businesswoman known primarily for her involvement in the 2016 South Korean political scandal, stemming from her influence over the 11th President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye. In 2018, a court sentenced Choi to 20 years in prison on corruption charges. Due to Choi's concurrent involvement in her father's religious cult, reporting media have called her "South Korea's Rasputin", in reference to Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin.

6. Lee Jae-yong (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 47.58, Lee Jae-yong is the 6th most famous South Korean Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Lee Jae-yong (Korean: 이재용; born June 23, 1968), anglicized as Jay Y. Lee, is a South Korean business executive who has been serving as the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics since October 2022. He is the only son of Lee Kun-hee and Hong Ra-hee. As of 17 April 2024, Lee has an estimated net worth of US$11.5 billion, making him the richest person in South Korea. In 2014, Lee was named the world's 35th most powerful person and the most powerful Korean by Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People along with his father, Lee Kun-hee.