The success of POSCO even made Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) envious. In the mid-1980s, when Deng visited the New Nippon Steel Corp in Japan, he said to the company's chairman, Inayama Yoshihiro (稻山嘉寬), "hopefully, you can also build for us a refinery like the POSCO refinery." At the time Inayama answered "but you don't have a Park Tae Joon!"
The success of POSCO may be attributed to the following reasons:
1) Government support and the full powers given to Park, which meant that 2) Park was able to run the business fairly and honestly without political pressure and the burden of favoritism. Under the strong leadership of the "crazy man," POSCO employees have high morale and are proud of the opportunity to contribute to national development. Park's motto puts it best: "Dedicate your brief life to your everlasting country." This is the spirit of POSCO. The theory about bathing that Park had learned from the Japanese farm women is the common belief of all POSCO personnel, as well as the driving force behind the success of this large corporate community.
In 1992, Park was forced to take refuge in Japan after disagreeing with Kim Young Sam's (金泳三) political ideals. When Kim Dae Jung (金大中) came to power, Park returned to Korea to join the camp of Kim Jong Pil (金鍾泌) who partnered Kim Dae Jung in the establishment of a unified South Korean government.
Last week, it was finally Park's turn to succeed Kim Jong Pil as Prime Minister. Let us wait and see if the "bathing and quality-control theory" of this neurotic for cleanliness can clean up the long accumulated corruption in South Korea's political and economic arena.
Rick Chu is the associate editor in Chief of the Taipei Times.
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