The Company Whose Founder Donated '1 Trillion Won'?How Did It End Up Firing Everyone?

Samyoung Industry Suspends All Operations Since Last Month Due to Business Decline
130 Employees Notified of Layoffs...Accumulated Debt of 16 Billion Won

Samyoung Industrial, a tile manufacturing company in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, established by the late Lee Jong-hwan, honorary chairman of Samyoung Chemical Group, known as the "1 trillion won donation king."
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Samyoung Industry, a tile manufacturing company established by the late Lee Jong-hwan, honorary chairman of Samyoung Chemical Group and known as the '1 trillion won donation king,' has notified all of its approximately 100 employees of their dismissal.

On the 24th, Samyoung Industry, headquartered and with a factory on Hagye-ro, Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae-si, Gyeongnam, announced that it had notified all 130 employees of their dismissal as of the 15th. The main reason for the dismissal is worsening business conditions. Samyoung Industry currently has accumulated debts of 16 billion won and is in a state of capital erosion. Due to the deteriorating business situation, the company has been on a full shutdown since last month.

Samyoung Industry reportedly faced difficulties in selling tiles, a construction material, due to the overall downturn in the construction market, along with rising raw material and gas costs, which gradually worsened its management. Employees endured the shutdown together for over a month but are said to be distressed after receiving the dismissal notice.

Chairman Lee Jong-hwan of Gwanjeong, who passed away last September. [Image source=Aprilhoe·Yonhap News]

Samyoung Industry was established and operated as Samyoung Yo-eop by Chairman Lee in September 1972, but it has suffered significant operating losses over the past four years. Despite the poor business conditions, Chairman Lee continued to donate to the 'Gwanjeong Lee Jong-hwan Education Foundation,' established in 2002. It is known that the amount he donated to the foundation during his lifetime reached as much as 1.7 trillion won. He was recognized for his contributions and awarded the Order of Civil Merit, Mugunghwa Medal, in 2009, and in 2021, he received the 22nd April 19th Culture Award.

His continuous donations are known to be one of the reasons Samyoung Industry fell into capital erosion. Especially after Chairman Lee passed away in September last year, even his children gave up their inheritance of shares as the company faced a management crisis. The company plans to have only essential personnel such as the general affairs team come to work to recover accounts receivable as much as possible to prepare severance pay. The Yangsan branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor and Gimhae City are checking the situation regarding unpaid wages and severance pay for the company's employees.

Meanwhile, in his 2008 autobiography 'Jeongdo (The Right Path),' Chairman Lee said about his scholarship work, "Ordinary people may call me a fool. That is just the story of people who do not know the joy of giving. Life is said to be 'Gongsurae Gongsugeo (coming empty-handed, leaving empty-handed).' However, it does not simply mean 'coming empty-handed and going empty-handed.' I interpreted it as 'come empty-handed, fill your hands, and then leave empty-handed.' I am practicing that."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.