(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — More than half of the second generation of South Korea’s chaebol (conglomerate) families turned out to have married partners from within the chaebol community.
According to a survey conducted by corporate tracker CEO Score that looked at the marriages of family members in the nation’s top 55 conglomerates headed by a single owner, pairings between individuals within the chaebol community accounted for 48.3 percent in the total marriages of the first and second generations of chaebol families.
The figures for the first and second generations stood at 46.3 percent and 50.7 percent, respectively.
Pairings between chaebol families and powerful political or official families accounted for 28 percent of the first generation and 7 percent of the second generation marriages.
“This survey shows that unlike the past when the back-scratching alliance between politics and business prevailed, the passing on of wealth through marriages within the chaebol community has deepened,” said Park Ju-gun, co-chief of CEO Score
The proportion of marriages between chaebol families and ordinary families rose to 23.2 percent for the second generation from 12.6 percent for the first generation.
The decline in the proportion of marriages between chaebol families and powerful political or official families reflect the fact that the influence of powerful politicians or officials on chaebol families, which was strong in the past, has weakened.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
