Dictatorship: - an old career in new Korea

All things considered, this millennium is proving to be something of a sticky wicket for those impatient visionaries who seized power, legally or not, to make a gilded career for themselves as a high and mighty despot to bring new order to a nation of quarrelsome ingrates.  In the 20th century it could be pretty much taken for granted that once the necessary collaborators had been sought, bribes paid, arms shipped, governments suspended, trade hijacked, bank accounts re-routed and emergency laws enacted, that the token civil unrest would quickly die down so that international corporations could safely beat a path to the door to pay homage to and do business with The New Management. Alas now in the 21st century, even those who spent decades seeding family and friends into the government and military to consolidate their personal power can be surprised to find it suddenly slipping away like sand through their fingers.

9 April 2003: statue of Saddam Hussein falls in Firdos Square, Baghdad

A-list despots who recently jumped or were pushed (to media fanfare at least) include Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Libya's Col. Gaddafi and Egypt's President Mubarak.  Meanwhile in Africa, the land of the Tin-Pot Despot, since year 2000 they said "Thanks but no thanks" to two handfulls of B-listers including Eyadema (Togo), Rene (Seychelles), Moi (Kenya), Hayedalla (Mauritania), Ben Ali (Tunisia), Kabila (Congo-Kinshasa), Taylor (Liberia), Bozize (Central African Republic), Sata (Zambia), etc, etc.  All in all one could be forgiven for thinking that the ceaselessly beaten, raped, tortured, imprisoned and murdered indigents were not at all happy with the kindness and benevolence bestowed by their loving masters.

Oct 2011: Col. Gaddafi captured and killed at the Battle of Sirte

Naturally Asia has also had its fair share of visionary dictators. After all, who could forget Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, or more colourfully perhaps; Imelda Marcos' 3,000 pairs of shoes ?  There was also Suharto (Indonesia), Pol Pot (Cambodia), Ho Chi Minh (N Vietnam) and Mao Zedong (China). 

"I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty." - Imelda Marcos.
Her excess spawned the word 'Imeldific'.

http://imeldamarcos.weebly.com/her-closet.html


However, unique in all these is North Korea's home grown Kim dynasty; Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il and today's Kim Jong-Un.  Incredible as it may seem, the personality cult promoted by this succession has eclipsed all others before it, including even the Grand Masters Stalin and Mao Zedong.  Kim Il-Sung began by granting himself the modest title of 'Great Leader' as early as 1949.  By the time Kim Jong-Il was moving onto centre stage, the title had been upgraded to 'Supreme Leader'.  One can only assume that during the career of the present Kim Jong-Un, there will be another promotion to 'Super Supreme Leader', by which time Pizza Hut will need to think long and hard if it has any intent of ever doing business in North Korea.

Before: Kim Il-Sung - alone and austere

After: much happier, Kim Il-Sung with Kim Jong-Il, keeping it in the family

The wider world does not know everything about life in North Korea, but to outside observers the Kims certainly appear to have hog-tied the country with key ideologies that have outlived the times.  Since the 1950's Kim Il-Sung's policy of 'Juche' (essentially 'self-reliance') and later Kim Jong-Il's policy of 'Songun' (military first) have pervaded, shaped and controlled every aspect of education, economics and politics. When combined with the Cult of Kim, these ideologies have essentially become a religion but without the usual spiritual elements.  While similar policies may have been trendy in the cold war climate of the 1950's, by 1978 even the ascendant Deng Xioaping (and by 1989 even the descendant Mr Gorbachev) could see that "The times they are a changing". In fact in the modern era the irrelevance of old doctrines, the determination to punish dissent with death and a blind refusal to even consider the evidence for ideas which challenge ideology is probably only rivaled by one other famously monolithic institution; the Catholic church.  

Entrenched ideologies #1: the earth orbiting the sun:
Proposed by Aristarcus of Samos in 270 BC
Discussed in Persia by Al Katibi in 1277 AD
Published by Copernicus in 1543 AD
Banned by The Inquisition in 1616 AD
Re-publication allowed by the church in 1822 AD
Finally conceded by Pope John Paul II in 1992 AD
Basically; enlightenment in North Korea shouldn't be expected anytime soon.
Here endeth the lesson - Amen.

So how should the Kim dynasty maintain it's longevity, given that despots are dropping like flies the world over, given that even countries like Iran are reigning in their nuclear ambitions and given that North Korea spectacularly underperforms in virtually everything compared with its southern neighbour (except possibly in the production of beer and methamphetamine) ?  Just how is a young and thrusting despot supposed to earn the title of 'Super Supreme Leader' these days ?  Well this is the evidence so far of the legacy which may come to define the new leadership.

1) Set the trend, don't follow the curve

Haircut 100 with Nick Heyward

Haircut 101 with Kim Jong-Un

This promotional offer in a barber's window in west London did not find favour with embassy officials.  Attempts to intimidate the owner into removing the poster instantly transformed this local high street prank into global news.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/15/north-koreans-complain-london-hairdresser-kim-jong-un


2) Give them what they want, what they really, really want ... celebrity of course

South Korea's K-Pop industry makes it world leader in churning out fresh flesh.  Giggly girl groups and moody blue boy bands are launched not just monthly but often quite literally weekly. Talent less it may be, relentless certainly but at the same time it's a huge money-spinner - just what every cash-strapped dictator needs to fund a nuclear arsenal.  No surprise then that Moranbong, the DPRK's most popular girl group has been heavily lauded at the very highest level.

Moranbong - North Korea's home grown experiment with K-Pop

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/dec/13/the-all-girl-north-korean-pop-group-moranbong-band-perform-video


Keen observers are waiting patiently to see if the next home grown clone will be a Psy from the Democratic People's Party.

3) Pinch with pride
Secret agents, spyplanes, drones ?  Old news these days. Cyber attacks are now The New Black.  Essentially it is an international competition to hide in plain sight, take what you want without anyone knowing it is missing and of course to leave no traces behind. Attacks are notoriously hard to pinpoint but more frequently the trail of crumbs leads back to a very hungry mouse in North Korea.  

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/north-korea-behind-81m-bangladesh-bank-cyber-heist-1559949

Protests of innocence have been less than convincing

Ultimately we shall have to wait and see.
It could be all of these or far, far worse !

The First Law of Blame: action and inaction shall not increase blame

If you can, cast your mind back to high school; specifically those desperately frustrating physics lessons. Frustrating for all of us but for very different reasons. The students were mostly frustrated by the nerdy need to impress the girl 'accidentally' sporting a black bra under a tight white blouse, bathed in sunlight over at the window. Frustration peaked every time she casually linked her fingers behind her, locked her arms and arched her back, allowing the glancing rays to reveal every hidden silhouette of her perfect form and lingerie. Eager observers were so mesmerised by this display that none of them checked to see for whose attention this show was actually being performed. 

The new physics teacher was equally frustrated, but mostly for other reasons. Having proudly obtained a degree in physics but without the hunger for a career in research, he didn't know what to do with himself and therefore thought he would try teaching until some better idea sprang to mind. 

(It never did !).  

Watching all this from above were the great icons of our Scientific Age; long-deceased boffins like Newton, Faraday and Hooke whose great discoveries were either fairly or unfairly attributed to them or to someone else, but in any case, great leaps of learning which can now be conveniently compressed into a 45 minute lecture delivered by a bored teacher to a class of horny toads who were overdosing on their own hormones. 

St Trinians - the antidote to physics lessons every time

In one such class the teacher would have explained the Second Law of Thermodynamics, describing the tendency of every system to adjust itself to achieve the lowest possible state of energy. For example, a round fruit released into a bowl will roll around the bowl until it comes to rest at the very bottom, thereby achieving the lowest state of energy. From this point the fruit will never move up the side of the bowl to a higher state of energy. In Korea the same principle applies to blame; every person, group or organisation continuously adjusts its position, coming to rest only when each is satisfied that they have minimised their responsibility. From this point, nobody will take any further action - even if there are clear advantages to doing so - if such action might increase responsibility or the risk of being blamed.

Here follows an actual real-life example. During a management meeting of a complex project already facing huge financial losses due to under-estimated challenges, it was explained that a particular draft subcontract contained many flaws which would incur additional heavy losses. The Project Manager replied that fortunately the contract was drafted by the legal department, which would be blamed for the flaws and the losses. Project Management would not revise the draft contract, even to avoid the losses, because by redrafting, the Project Management would assume responsibility for the subcontract. Basically it was ok to use a knowingly flawed contract because the flaws could be blamed on another department. This example is typical of the conflict of interest running at every level; how to achieve the best overall result when individual teams are focused only on minimising their own responsibility and deflecting blame.

This mind-set is so indelibly ingrained that the only scenario which will prompt some action is if the blame for inaction might outweigh the blame for taking action. An interesting case in point being emergency management plans. For more than a year it was impossible to convince the Human Resources management of a certain high-rise office building to prepare an emergency plan, to practice staff evacuation and to coordinate the response of the emergency services. Excuses were made that the necessary cost, time, resources, etc just couldn't be "justified". The subtext was that since no emergency had occurred before and was therefore thought unlikely, there was minimal risk of being blamed for not having an emergency plan in place. However if an emergency plan was prepared, then somebody would have to take responsibility for preparing it along with any imperfections which might subsequently come to light. All things considered it was simply safer to keep looking the other way. 

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
This meaning of proverb varies around the world.
Sometimes it encourages a person to be of good mind, speech and action.
In the West it refers to those who deal with a problem by simply ignoring it.

Some people finally woke up in April 2014 with the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry during which passengers were told to remain in their seats as crew quickly abandoned ship. The ferry crew, operators and owner were later charged with the negligent homicide of 304 people, mostly school children, suddenly bringing into focus the duties of those responsible for large groups of people.  The national outrage over the ferry disaster was so acute that the blame for having no emergency procedure could now be worse than the blame for having one which is imperfect.  Overnight a previously uninterested Human Resources rapidly demanded emergency management plans, building evacuation drills, coordination with emergency services, etc, etc; in fact everything which they had previously refused.  In other words; soon as there became a need to deflect blame, suddenly everything that couldn't previously be justified was immediately possible.

The Sewol ferry disaster, 16 April 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/south-korea-ferry-disaster-new-report-announces-sewol-ferry-was-licensed-through-false-documents-and-9594188.html

It is curious that since New Year many commuters can be seen on the subway wearing t-shirts sporting the slogan

"Making mistakes is better than faking perfections" 

Let's see how long it takes to put the concept into practice. 

Living the nightmare - Chaebol culture

Friends may have told you unlikely anecdotes ? Colleagues may have whispered disturbing tales ? Or you may simply be waiting for the horror movie to be released ? One thing is certain; whichever way you get to learn about it, your first insight into Korean chaebol culture will leave you gasping in awe - but not in a good way.

Korean corporations, or so-called 'chaebols', are HUGE and intentionally diverse. Many were started in 1945 after Japanese surrender and began flourishing in 1953 at the end of the Korean war. Many are still controlled by dynastic families. The largest are therefore controlled by Korea's ‘Royal Families'.

The stock market value of all the companies which comprise the largest chaebol is said to exceed the combined value of the next nine corporations listed by market capitalisation. Given that exports generate on average more than 50% of South Korea's economy, this top chaebol alone reportedly accounts for 20%-30% of the nation's GDP on average.

Predictably there is fierce competition to win a long and secure career working for one of these national-turned-global juggernauts. Twice yearly the largest corporations arrange entrance exams for up to 200,000 applicants at exam centres all across the country to kick off the formal selection process.

These applications are themselves preceded by years of regular daytime schooling (9am-4pm), zealous night-time cramming (5pm-9pm) and additional sports, music or language classes at the weekends to add some non-academic excellence with which to desperately distinguish one's application from the thousands (and thousands) of others. This effectively transforms high school and university into a gruelling, ceaseless, manically competitive scramble to gain a foot-hold in a sheer corporate edifice which remains impenetrable to those who fail to make the grade.

The 5,000 candidates who are selected annually virtually redefine the word 'elite'. Most share a relatively narrow list of socially prestigious surnames, all have graduated from a handful of top universities and most were high-school buddies before that. For the lucky few it is a progression from playground peers to 'frat-rats' to corporate clique. One thing is for sure; for those who make it and for those that don't, life will never be the same again.

http://www.cnet.com/news/the-chaebols-the-rise-of-south-koreas-mighty-conglomerates/

Having won such coveted employment one might be forgiven for thinking that the pressure was finally off. However the selection process turns out to be just a prequalifier for a much longer trial; that of endurance and survival.

Aside from the entrance exams, candidates are selected on their academic record and social background to ensure that they are .. ‘worthy'. Little consideration is given to a candidate's readiness to work abroad, which would be logical given that most large Korean corporations are now formidable global competitors. When fresh graduates are told that they will be dispatched to Saudi for their first 18 months in the job, they accept this as a small fealty for winning their dream employment.

Cynically this is an endurance test, designed to sort the survivors from the quitters, which parallels the concept of basic training or boot camp. Like squaddies in the army, the dispatched graduates either sink or swim. Those that sink, usually resign and return home devastated that they lost everything that the dreams of their whole family were built on. For the survivors, the price of victory is the insecurity that the longer you endure and the higher you progress, the easier it is to have a career toppled completely.

Inhuman Resources

Somewhat mind-bogglingly, Korean business divisions are reorganised every 6 months; from the departments within the division, right down to the staff in each team of each group of each department. While the division heads decide the new structure of the division, it is Human Resources (HR) which has total autonomy on filling the structure with people.

Managers remain accountable for the performance of their team or group, however they get no say over who they keep or lose during the reorganisation, nor the size of the revamped team or any recruitment if necessary. HR will decide everything, not based on the manager’s input but based on rigorous systems which are astonishing to see outside of the military. 

When such sweeping changes are made as often as twice a year, one wonders exactly how the efficacy of an organisation is judged on such short timescales.  Given that people require time to adjust to the new structure, the responsibilities of each unit and the workflow between them, it would be no surprise if the staff spent most of their time simply trying to figure out how the company is wired.

Top Secret

To make the working environment even more exciting, the structure of the division remains a carefully guarded secret throughout the whole year.  Employees may view the structure on their computers but are not allowed to save a copy, print it to paper or even to capture a screenshot of the organisation.  Inevitably some have dared to use their smartphone to take a photo of their screen, which has resulted in some chaebols obliging each employee to either buy smartphones without cameras or else to simply surrender their phones each day when they report for duty.

Dream Job : Social status is a key factor

Performance reviews

Each year staff are subject to an annual performance review and graded A to E. A proscribed percentage of each team must receive grade A (10% pay rise), grade B (5% pay rise), C (no pay rise), D (5% reduction) & E (10% reduction). The manager may decide which staff receive which grade, but the spread of grades is fixed, even if the performance of the whole team is great or dismal.

Recruitment and redundancy
HR sets recruitment criteria, assess candidates and assigns new recruits to managers when HR deems necessary and similarly HR sets redundancy criteria, assess candidates and dismisses them when HR decides appropriate. All this is done over, above and despite the opinion of the manager who simply has to deliver what is required with the team he is given.

After a few months in this environment, it comes as little surprise when a colleague approaches wearing a proud but tearful face to explain that he was honoured to be part of the team but he has been told to clear his desk so he wishes everyone continued success and happiness in their work without him.

The Untouchables

The way to beat the system is to know something damaging to the reputation of a higher mandarin in the company, or better still, to have aided him in his skulduggery. In this way a person becomes 'untouchable' - at least until the downfall of said mandarin.

Incredibly a person's 'untouchable' status is officially known to HR and to their team manager, who remain powerless to dismiss the individual, even if he contributes nothing on a daily basis, which often they don't. It is a sorry manager who is lumbered with untouchable staff by a knowing HR but his team is still expected to exceed expectations.

At higher levels, a person may become untouchable and therefore protected, if his discredited actions were instructed by his seniors. Sure, he knew he was doing wrong but he was powerless, he was ‘just following orders’. The reward for not implicating those above him is to be exiled to a new position created somewhere abroad from where he will continue to earn a tax free salary with expat perks while remaining conveniently absent from daily company business.

Chaebol humour
There was a joke in South Korea back in the 1990s. It went like this:

What would employees of the mighty Korean conglomerates -- the so-called chaebols -- do if they were accidentally confronted by a fearsome bear while strolling through the forest?

Hyundai employees would club the bear to death without hesitation.

Daewoo would call its Chairman Kim Woo-jung and await his command.

Samsung would hold a meeting -- with the bear still in front of them -- to discuss how to proceed.

LG would wait for Samsung's response, and then do the same

http://www.cnet.com/news/the-chaebols-the-rise-of-south-koreas-mighty-conglomerates/

The Annual Admonishment
Against this background the highlight of the corporate year is reduced to a farcical piece of theatre, however all staff are still expected to take it seriously. This is when the CEO suspends normal business for an entire day, calls his 200 top managers into the massive boardroom, then invites his selected targets to stand one by one while he personally scolds them and exacts grovelling apologies, admissions of blame and promises of renewed effort from each of them. Meanwhile every other employee watches live on their laptop.

Once per year this ritual admonishing starts shorty after the 8am corporate broadcast as the CEO takes his seat on a raised platform with long rows of parallel tables stretching away in front of him. Protocol dictates that executive management take the central tables at seats closest to the CEO with the senior and upper management carefully arranged on the outer tables and further from the CEO.

One by one, the CEO calls each target to attention, whereupon the victim stands bowed with horizontal torso, hands clasped by his knees and eyes fixed firmly on his feet. The CEO then lambastes the hapless wretch with details of his failures, what his duties were, what he should have done, how he failed in those duties and shamed his co-workers, the CEO and the company. 

Without lifting his gaze from his shoes, the accused then admits complete personal responsibility, without daring to suggest any mitigating circumstances. He promises he has learned from his mistakes; it will never happen again. Meekly he asks for one more chance to redeem himself with longer working hours, superhuman effort and unfailing determination so that he can correct his mistakes and turn his failures into success for the glory of the company. 

Depending on the issues, the CEO's scrutiny focuses for 5-10 minutes on each target with approx 10 targets being held to account her hour.

Finally, with all the irony of a man who inadvertently steps under a bus while musing on the eulogy he may receive one day, the CEO then also apologises for putting his faith in so many undeserving managers whose failures have clearly wasted the good work and sacrifice of the loyal staff under them. The CEO implores everyone to redouble their efforts to make up for the lost ground and bring home the victory which the company richly deserves. This entire performance lasts 8 to 10 hours during which the rest of the staff finally see exactly what it is that they competed so hard for - and what they will have to endure if they wish to continue any further.


The Art of Apology
Social observers like to repeat the often-heard phrase that you can never apologise enough to a Korean.  Certainly the mass media likes to regularly (and relentlessly) take foreign governments, dignitaries and moguls to task for failing to be 'sufficiently sincere' with their apologies.  Regular targets include North Korea (no surprise), Japan (inevitably) and others who upset Korea's fragile sensitivities. 

When Koreans themselves apologise, it is admittedly done very well, crossing over into some sort of art form.  As often as not, when done well, a good apology will in time be rewarded with genuine forgiveness.  In fact many business leaders have not only been forgiven by the state but even pardoned from their jail terms. The most recent example perhaps being the release of 14 'notable businessmen', including SK's Group Chairman, released in August 2015, imprisoned in 2013 for embezlement.  Upon his release, holding a bible in fact, he bowed sincerely and apologised deeply "for causing concern to the public".  From the awed reaction of the assembled crowd, clearly nobody expected an apology for the actual embezelment itself.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/05/116_184826.html  


Probably the most high profile pardon so far was afforded to the former head of the Samsung Group in 2009.  
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/983c3922-f423-11de-ac55-00144feab49a.html#axzz48jXkE9co

The problem with granting pardons to high-profile transgressors is that the crimes, and by extension the law, are perceived by the public to be flexible (at best) or worthless (at worst).  The public then take this as a signal to enjoy a little flexibility with the law themselves.


Nut Rage

Nut Rage: Heather Cho - apologies from the rich and famous require a special sincerity  

Deeply penitent Heather Cho, former Vice President of Korean Airlines (and, quite co-incidentally, daughter of KAL's Chairman and CEO) was charged with commanding the pilot to return to the departure gate at New York’s JFK International Airport after cabin staff served her macadamia nuts in a packet instead of on a plate.

During the trial, there were allegations of attempts to silence the witnesses however the cabin staff’s testimonies were supported by the passengers. Ultimately a one year prison sentence was issued for obstructing aviation safety, which carries a maximum possible 10 year sentence.

The case highlighted the increasing perception amongst the public that the children of chaebol moguls do not deserve, and cannot handle, the responsibilities of the positions that they inherit. 


Corporate Apologies
These came thick and fast in 2014 and 2015

Everything from crashed airliners
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/07/08/asiana-airlines-president-bows-in-apology-for-crash-a-show-of-koreas-very-different-corporate-culture/

To the theft of customer’s credit details
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/3007/information-insecurity-public-apology-en-masse-resignations-korean-bank-ceos

Never a dull moment ;)