That was a year ago. Today customers are flocking to Chung as word of his tasty food spreads. Friends who once scoffed at his restaurant plans want advice on how to set up their own catering joints. The definition of what's respectable in South Korea has changed fast since economic collapse punched a hole in the Korean Dream. When the country was vaulting to economic success, parents aspired to get their sons into white-collar jobs at giant chaebol, or conglomerates, like Samsung. A year of life under the yoke of a humiliating $58 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund has crushed all that. A bright horizon of lifetime jobs and seemingly nonstop growth has suddenly dimmed. In its place: soaring unemployment, a more competitive role in the global economy and diminished expectations for a country that had been living beyond its means. MORE>>
Korea Faces Up to Reality
After five years as a construction site manager at
Samsung, Chung Hwan Oak was more used to giving
orders than taking them. So making sales calls for his new
catering business turned out to be particularly hard on his
pride. After bowing deeply, Chung, 49, would pitch his
hot-pot lunches -- steaming vegetables seasoned with
shrimps and fiery pepper sauce -- then explain how he'd
lost his job at the giant conglomerate. Often people just
slammed the door in his face. Those who listened didn't
offer him a chair. The frosty treatment stung, but Chung
knew what was behind it. In status-conscious Korea,
Samsung is at the top of the job heap -- catering is near the
bottom. "Running a restaurant wasn't a respectable thing
to do," says Chung. "The hardest part of shifting gears
was pride."