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Nam Kyung Pil ’96MPPM: Tackling Korea’s family dynasties.

In South Korea, where a handful of families control much of the economy, bashing them has become so popular that even the ruling party is now in on the act. Nam Kyung Pil ’96MPPM, a lawmaker from the New Frontier Party, is putting his Yale School of Management training to use in drafting legislation that would restrict the ability of the conglomerates—known as chaebol—to control megacorporations like Samsung and Hyundai while owning only a small fraction of the shares.

“Enough is enough,” Nam tells Businessweek in an interview. “People’s resentment toward the chaebol has accumulated over the years and now it’s blown up.” Under the headline “Yale Grad Fights Families Who Rule Samsung to Hyundai,” the magazine says the move by the traditionally pro-business governing party could force “Korea’s tycoons… to spend $24 billion boosting holdings or risk ceding control.” On the other hand, in the words of an American consultant to foreign investors in Korea, “it could simply be window dressing for the upcoming presidential election.”

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