An ex-government bureaucrat and two senior investment bankers launched Korea's first domestic private equity fund earlier this summer. It surprised many when Dr Byeon Yangho resigned from the Ministry of Finance. The respected government bureaucrat had risen to near the very top of the bureaucracy and could look forward to a secure position running a state corporation and a good pension.
His decision to leave and set up a private equity fund was out of character for a senior Korean official. Apparently it took him a year to persuade his wife of the wisdom of the move.
But Byeon's connections go to the heart of Korea Inc,...
