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Seeking counseling from soothsayers is not a Korea-specific phenomenon
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Joung Jin-gu, 69, the founder of a startup called Dream Air that produces respiratory equipment and face masks, has a go-to person he turns to for advice whenever he faces key decisions. The man Joung relies on for counseling is a geomancer who tells his clients about their fortunes and future, based on four pillars ― the hour, day, month and year of one's birth.
For the past several decades, Joung has been reaching out to the geomancer for advice whenever he has to hire people to fill key positions in his company or come up with ideas about new business ventures in which he had no prior experience.
"You never know which people are trustworthy. Resumes or job interviews rarely tell you who they really are," he told The Korea Times.
He recalled a bitter lesson he learned after hiring a mid-career worker, who later wreaked havoc on his previous garment business.
"He was calm, gentle and so nice that I thought he would be the last person to deceive me. But he did, and his actions against me dealt a serious blow to my business. My business suffered staggering losses."
According to him, the world of business is a battlefield where the future is highly unpredictable, while business partners can turn quickly into enemies. Joung once ran a thriving garment business called Samjoung International, which employed around 3,000 workers. His company had manufacturing factories in 33 countries, mostly in Asia and Latin America. His business declined in the early 2000s when he was diagnosed with a life-threatening respiratory disease and had to be hospitalized for treatment.
"You need to figure out whether the people you are going to hire are the right ones," he said. "So, for me, getting prior counseling from people with insight into the future is essential. People say it's just superstition, but if you run a business, you'll be tempted to do so, because the risks of making the wrong decisions are so high."
It's an open secret that business leaders, like Joung, include fortune tellers or people who are "endowed with the ability to see others' fortunes or their futures," among their go-to consultants.
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| The late Samsung Chairman, Lee Byung-chul, is seen in a framed photo during his funeral, held in November 1987. Korea Times file |
Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul (1910-1987) is well-known for seeking advice from Park Jae-hyun, who was called, an "ascetic from the land-locked small county of Hamyang," whenever facing key business decisions.
It was rumored that Park, a practitioner of physiognomy, the practice of assessing a person based mainly on facial characteristics, was one of the selection committee members interviewing workers applying for positions at Samsung Group. Park was reportedly hired as a senior-level adviser for the group in the 1970s, and received 60 million won in annual income for his counseling services, which was enough to buy dozens of apartments in smaller cities in Korea back then.
Another business tycoon, Chung Tae-soo, founder of the now defunct Hanbo Group, was also a stalwart believer in divination. Following the advice of a famous physiognomist called Baek Un-san, Chung managed to pull off a dramatic career transition from a poorly paid, low-ranking tax official, to the founder and chairman of the construction company that was once the nation's 14th-largest business, before it went bankrupt in 1997. The fall of Hanbo Group was a precursor to Korea's entanglement in the Asian financial crisis later that year.
The twilight years of his life were rather unfortunate. Chung was found guilty of embezzlement and bribing politicians and bankers to obtain huge loans to fuel his company's wanton expansion. He pleaded with the court to allow him to travel to Japan for medical treatment, while he was on trial in an appeals court. His request was accepted and he left the country reportedly for Japan, only to disappear from the radar. In 2019, his third son was arrested in Ecuador and testified that his father passed away in the Latin American country in 2018 at the age of 95.
Song Jae-ryong, a professor of sociology at Kyung Hee University, said business tycoons' reliance on divination and other forms of fortune telling-based counseling is a reflection of the desperate endeavors of humans to learn about the uncertain future, and their desire to use their "pre-learned knowledge" to avoid risk and find success.
"Fortune telling is a form of interpreting uncertain futures," he said. "Despite technological advancements, the future still remains uncertain and the same is true for business leaders. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for example, was unthinkable before it actually happened. Just two years ago, no one had ever thought that such a virus would change human lives so dramatically."
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| Now defunct Hanbo Group founder Chung Tae-soo in this 2006 file photo / Korea Times file |
Divination is more common than people think in corporate Korea. Some tycoons consult with their go-to people about the dates to commemorate the beginning and completion of construction projects, while others choose the locations of their headquarters based on their advice.
Jeong Hoi-do, author of the Kyobo Books bestseller, "The Algorithm of Luck," said business leaders' reliance on fortune telling or divination is not a Korea-specific phenomenon.
In his book, the tarot practitioner said he has been serving as an adviser for an unnamed global business consulting firm. "The management of the firm knows that intelligence and hard work are not sufficient to guarantee they'll achieve what they want…. This is why business tycoons hire those who see the future full-time to provide counseling for them," the book reads.
Unlike ordinary salaried workers, whose lives are relatively predictable, big businesses and their leaders have to make key, complicated business decisions, the consequences of which are hugely important.
"Some of those decisions are like: Should they invest in a new business? Should they shut down an unprofitable business right away or should they keep it going despite deficits? Should they lay off workers to cut costs? Business leaders need to make tough decisions like that almost every day," the book reads. "If they make the wrong decisions, it has a far-reaching impact, not only on their own businesses, but also on shareholders, as well as on the livelihoods of their employees and their families. If the situation goes from bad to worse, their businesses may go bankrupt and they may have to take responsibility for that."
Corporate leaders are briefed on various business scenarios, from the best- to worst-case ones, but they still feel the need to get more information from others regarding the future of their businesses, Jeong said.
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Business leaders or politicians relying on fortune-telling has been a centuries-old practice.
Neel Burton, psychiatrist and author of "The Meaning of Myth: With 12 Greek Myths Retold and Interpreted by a Psychiatrist," said leaders would consult an oracle or seer before any major undertaking.
"The ancients took divination very seriously," he said in the book. "King Croesus of Lydia consulted the oracle at Delphi about attacking Persia, and was advised, 'If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed.' Croesus crossed the river but it was his own empire that was destroyed."
Burton said prophesy is often cryptic or gnomic, because "such is the nature of truth: subtle, ambiguous and difficult to apply."
