The founder of Hyundai was born to an impoverished family of peasants in what is now North Korea. In 1998, he sent 1001 cows to his hometown in North Korea as a repayment 1000 times over for a cow that he stole in the early 1930s to afford his train ticket to Seoul and escape from poverty.
Chung Ju-yung’s business ventures steered through the tumultuous times of the Japanese occupation of South Korea as well as the post-Korean War stresses on the economy. Chung explained his success in his statement: “Our people succeeded because they devoted their enterprising spirits. They used the forces of other mind. Conviction… creates indomitable efforts. This is the key to (true) miracles… Man’s potential is limitless.