Chapter 850

20:00,

After dinner,

"Mr. Guan!"

"Inviting you over this time is to chat about the marriage between you and my daughter..."

In the Li family courtyard, meticulously pruned greenery was arranged in a staggered and orderly fashion, and a path paved with cobblestones wound its way to a wooden room.

Inside the room, the wooden furniture was simple, elegant, and neatly arranged.

The floor was covered with clean and tidy tatami mats, on which sat a low wooden tea table, already filled with exquisite tea snacks, including cute-shaped Korean-style pastries and steaming fragrant tea.

Lee Kun-hee and Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu sat facing each other, Li Fujian sat obediently beside Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu, her eyes looking at Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu from time to time, a sweet smile hanging on the corners of her mouth.

Lee Kun-hee personally poured tea for Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu, the steaming tea soup poured into the cup, and the tea fragrance overflowed.

While pouring tea, he said: "Mr. Guan, Fujian is a child who has been spoiled by us since she was young. If there is anything done incorrectly, I hope you will be more accommodating."

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu picked up the teacup, took a light sip, and responded with a smile: "Mr. Li is too polite. Although Fujian doesn't have many advantages, I like her very much."

Li Fujian: "............"

Lee Kun-hee paused, squeezed out a smile and said: "Mr. Guan, we Koreans have always attached importance to family inheritance and major marriage events. If you and Fujian can achieve a positive result, that would be the blessing of our Li family."

Lee Kun-hee found it hard to say 'come and save Samsung quickly'. His words seemed to revolve around the marriage, but in fact, he was secretly testing Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu's attitude toward Samsung's current predicament, hoping to take this opportunity to let Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu help the Samsung Group.

"Oppa~~~"

Li Fujian looked at Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu with eager eyes, eight parts real and two parts acting.

As a chaebol heiress, her fate was either a chaebol marriage or finding someone to marry into her family; she was destined not to have autonomy. Rather than choosing these two, it was better to choose to marry Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu. He was handsome, powerful, and rich, with extraordinary charm; compared to him, other chaebol young masters were simply scum.

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu said seriously: "Don't worry, I will not let Fujian down."

After hearing this, Lee Kun-hee was happy: "Then when will you get married? We need to set a date."

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu: "Sorry, I need to discuss it with my wife. Regarding family matters, I have always respected her opinion."

Lee Kun-hee: "............"

Li Fujian: "............"

They were directly dumbfounded by Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu.

The words that followed were all suddenly stuck.

You wouldn't want to pull out and be heartless, would you?

No, I must hurry and let Fujian get pregnant. As long as there is Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu's child, everything will be easy to talk about later.

Lee Kun-hee chatted about some family matters again.

Half an hour later...

Lee Kun-hee finally brought up Samsung's problem this time.

But he didn't start from Samsung, but from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Just last month, the government applied to the IMF for financial assistance, but the conditions were too harsh, so the government did not agree."

"Then at the beginning of this month, the IMF came to Korea and conducted a comprehensive investigation into the economy, finance, and banking."

"Then, they put forward several requirements..."

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu took a sip of tea and continued to listen.

He was very curious about what conditions those greedy IMF people had put forward.

Lee Kun-hee began to list them one by one.

"The first one is to significantly raise bank interest rates and implement a monetary tightening policy."

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu's hand paused.

"Awesome!"

Although raising interest rates can alleviate inflation, for Korean enterprises and individuals who already have large debts, that means jumping off a building.

This is forcing these enterprises to go bankrupt!

Moreover, enterprise and individual bankruptcy will naturally cause Korean banks to generate a large amount of bad debts, and then naturally, it will be bank bankruptcy, and bank bankruptcy will further circulate to more enterprise bankruptcies.

Needless to say what follows: rising prices, no jobs...

If Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu remembered correctly, it seems the IMF also demanded this of Thailand, and then the Thai people were furious.

Lee Kun-hee: "Then the IMF's second condition: fully open up foreign investment, allowing overseas capital to merge and acquire, and hold shares in, local banks."

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu: "Awesome!!"

This is directly aimed at Korea's financial sovereignty.

Korea's own banks have a large amount of dead and bad debts, high debt, they are dead for sure!

Then when European and American banks come, Korea's finance will inevitably be occupied by European and American banks.

In the future, Korea will be America's ATM.

This is a negotiation with a gun pointed at the head.

The IMF, a fair and square leek-harvesting machine, lives up to its name!

Lee Kun-hee: "Third, require the government to introduce laws allowing enterprises to lay off staff on a large scale, unconditional layoffs."

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu nodded, needless to say, these Americans want to turn formal employees into casual workers, which can greatly reduce enterprise costs.

From this point of view, what those people in the East bragged about in later generations — foreign enterprises pay enough wages and provide full benefits.

The fact is true.

But the real reason is definitely not that foreign enterprises have a conscience, but because in the East, a strong government makes them afraid to mess around.

The stronger the government, the less foreign enterprises dare to mess around.

The weaker the government, the more foreign enterprises mess around.

"Fourth, require major chaebols to reform and accept capital injection. Although they haven't specifically talked about which chaebol has what conditions, I know Samsung will not be spared."

"We Samsung are one of Korea's top three chaebols, they definitely won't let us go. And with their greed, the conditions will inevitably be extremely harsh."

(PS: Later generation data: 52% of Samsung Group's shares and 82% of Samsung Electronics' shares are owned by US capital, it seems there was a fallback later.)

Speaking of this, Lee Kun-hee's expression was very ugly.

The Samsung Group was something his father worked hard to build, and now, he might have to watch Samsung's sovereignty be handed over.

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu thought of another thing.

This IMF negotiation continued until early December 1997 before it was officially finalized. And the negotiations with the chaebols would not be until 1998.

And in January 1998, a very powerful event occurred.

In January, Korea launched a — "Donate Gold to Save the Nation" movement.

Korea's newly appointed president, Kim Dae-jung, took the lead in donating the gold jewelry in his home, calling on the Korean people to donate gold to supplement Korea's foreign exchange and gold reserves.

Since then, over 3 million people lined up at banks across the country, donating their rings, earrings, necklaces, and other gold jewelry to the government for free, totaling over 227 tons of gold, worth 2.1 billion US dollars.

The madness of this movement even surprised US President Clinton.

Are these Koreans crazy?

As for the final agreement reached between the IMF and the Korean government in December, it caused Korea to lose part of its economic sovereignty, comparable to treason, and many Koreans even regarded this event as the greatest national humiliation since Japan annexed Korea.

Inside the wooden room,

The tea fragrance was ethereal, Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu listened while drinking, while appreciating Lee Kun-hee's anger.

"Mr. Guan... inviting you over this time, besides Fujian's marriage, I also want to ask for help from Mr. Guan."

He had been cooperating with Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu for over 2 years.

The two sides had never had any conflict, the Eight-Star Group was developing rapidly, and the Samsung Group had also rapidly expanded its market share for various products, gaining many benefits.

So Lee Kun-hee had a very good impression of Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu, this collaborator: lots of money, few problems, pleasant cooperation!

And those Americans were definitely vampires.

So, why not ask Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu for help? And go satisfy those greedy guys?

He didn't know how rich the Five-Star Group was, but it must be super, super rich.

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu took a sip of tea and said slowly: "I don't know how much money you want?"

Lee Kun-hee: "The more the better!"

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu: "How do you want to cooperate?"

Lee Kun-hee: "If I say I borrow money and give you interest, that is insulting you. So, I, the Samsung Group, am willing to sell shares of the Samsung Group."

The Samsung Group is very huge: covering electronics, finance, machinery, chemicals, and many other fields, with many subsidiaries, such as Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Samsung SDS, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Corning, Samsung Networks, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Securities, Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, Samsung Engineering...

And Samsung Electronics is the largest and most core subsidiary of the Samsung Group.

It is also what Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu values.

Technology is the future!

Director Director Director Guan Zu Zu nodded: "I can put up 1 billion US dollars to take down 50% of Samsung Electronics' shares..."