hankyoreh

staff photographer)

By Seok Jin-hwan, staff reporter

“Working as I have as a doctor, computer programmer, CEO, and professor, I’ve definitely met people from all walks of life. I’ve exchanged ideas with many young people including workers in the IT field. Serving on many government committees and working as an outside director in the private sector, I developed a broad network with many older individuals. At POSCO, one of the world’s greatest steel companies, I took on the role of chairman for the first time in my forties. I spent valuable time debating and reaching agreements with the other members of the board of directors, most of whom were in their 60s and 70s. As a professor, I interacted a great deal with people in their 20s and 30s in the Youth Concert lecture series. I like to think that I am still capable of speaking the languages of all these contexts and cultures.”

The proceeding passage was from the presidential candidate, Ahn Cheol-soo’s book “ Ahn Cheol-Soo’s Thoughts,” which was in effect his declaration of candidacy for the presidency. The 50-year-old candidate has managed to rise to the top echelons of four of Korea’s most desirable professions. In the path of his life, his supporters claim to see success and accomplishment, donation and philanthropy, sacrifice and yielding to others. It’s extremely uncommon for one man to have all these characteristics. His supporters are anxious to see if like his own image, he can transform Korean society and bring about shining accomplishments while remaining upright and pure of heart.

There is, of course, another view of the man. Some have called him a facade, or a mirage made up by the public. Others have said that he is an elitist that doesn’t know a thing about the lives of common people, or a third option in a two-way race whose appearance on the scene was carefully planned.

Some people can’t believe that a few books about his success story and some lectures to young people were enough to build such a broad base of support for Ahn. Others caution that it is still too soon to say just what kind of a person he is. They seem to be suggesting that as he is a relative newcomer in politics, he still has a lot to go through, such as a vetting process and trading barbs with other candidates.

Ahn was born in Milyang, South Gyeongsang province while his father was serving there as a military doctor. After his father completed his service, the family moved to Busan, where his father opened a clinic.

In his books and on his official campaign website, Ahn said, “I have enjoyed reading since childhood, and once my eyes were opened to the world of books as a first-grader, I was addicted to the written word. I even read as I walked to and from school every day. By the time I was in middle school, I had already read most of the major Korean novels. Reading everything I could get my hands on as a child gave me a grounding in the humanities and had a major influence on my life.”

He went on to say, “As a young man, I wanted to be a scientist, but later on I dreamed of being an engineer because I wanted to work with machines more directly.” He explained, “As my hands were smaller than those of the other boys, I had talent at tasks that require precise work, such has assembly and disassembly work.”

But as a third-year high school student he elected to pursue higher education in medicine, graduated 16th in his class at Seoul National University, and became a doctor. On his reasons for studying medicine instead of engineering school, he says, “I thought my parents would be proud if I continued on with the family business.” At least through his college days, Ahn’s life wasn’t much different from that of most rich kids in Korea.

The other candidates in December’s elections are Park Geun-hye, who assumed the duties of first lady at age 22 after her mother was killed in an assassination attempt on her father, then-president Park Chung-hee, and Moon Jae-in, who lived through great poverty as a child only to be arrested and expelled from school for protesting the Yushin Regime. Unlike his competitors, Ahn had no experiences in his youth that were intense enough to shape the rest of his life.

What did Ahn forego a career as a medical doctor and become a computer software expert? On his motivations, he has often pointed out his experience doing medical volunteer service in interviews and in his books. Ahn, who entered university in 1980, did not participate in the democratization movement as a college student, but took part in medical volunteer service for three years starting in his second year of medical school in many places where residents lacked access to medical care. He recalled interactions with the suffering masses and faced realities more horrible than anything he had encountered in books. He began a deep contemplation of society as what he had read in books in his younger days and the volunteer experience meshed.

The direct motivation was aroused when the computer used in medical experiments displayed some problems. Ahn, who was proficient in computer languages, created an anti-virus program on his own. As his story ran in a computer magazine, he was inundated with requests for help. After that his work consisted mostly of him developing anti-virus software in the early morning and heading to work at the hospital after that. He lived on that schedule for seven years. He said he built AhnLab because he thought that was a good opportunity to return some part of what he received to the society.

Having become an entrepreneur by founding a computer software company, he placed the current “AhnLab” on a stable footing in spite of various difficulties, putting the finishing touches on his success story in the start-up sector. The CIH virus spread, harming more than 300,000 computers in 1999. The big problem brought Ahn a big opportunity.

His company had been suffering due to a weak market for software, but started to turn a profit. Ahnlab posted over 30 billion won in sales, the highest among domestic software firms in 2004. The next year, Ahn went to the U.S. to study after entrusting the company to a professional manager for the next year.

Though acknowledging his ability to succeed in a new sector, some people view accounts of his 10 years in management as exaggerated. Hwang Jang-su, director of Future Management Research Center, said in his book ‘Ahn Chul-soo, A Made-up Mythology’, “Ahn is saying he distributed anti-virus software to individuals for seven years to contribute to society, but at that time most people used PC communication through telephones, which made it impossible to sell that software.”

He added, “At that time, users never thought of buying software, let alone anti-virus software, and Ahn later executed his free distribution policy in the Japanese market as well.”

Some people also cast doubt on Ahn’s refusal to accept a US$10 million acquisition proposal from American security software company McAfee, Inc. in 1997. Ahn claimed he refused the offer in order to ensure the independence of the domestic anti-virus software market. The episode conveyed such a strong impression coupled with Ahn’s free distribution of anti-virus software on the public that it appeared in elementary, middle and high school textbooks.

Hwang said, “According to the 1997 report by McAfee released in August, AhnLab and McAfee signed a contract to build a joint venture for the development and sales of products.” He maintained that Ahn did not refuse the proposal from the outset and made a contract. Whether he rejected the proposal indeed to acquire “computer security sovereignty” or due to conflicts of interest between the two companies is not clear.

Lawmaker Park Min-shik of the New Frontier Party also argued at the parliamentary inspection on Oct. 5, “Ahn just revealed the episode in his autobiography, but it was published in textbooks without confirmation, leading students to believe it as an absolute fact.”

On this issue, Ahn explained, “The aim of McAfee was to eliminate the Korea’s sole anti-virus software company and dominate the market,” adding, “We proposed building a joint venture company to decline the company’s tenacious proposal. But displeased with our proposal, McAfee suggested partnership in the sector of marketing, so we accepted it and signed a contract. Later, McAfee unilaterally cancelled the contract.”

Some point out that although he usually has emphasized sharing and donation, the company run by him was in fact stingy when it came to donation. AhnLab, for which he worked between 2001 and 2005, posted total sales of 149.6 billion won (about US$135 million) with profits of 26.1 billion won (about US$23.5 million). However, the donation as social contribution made by the company amounted to 31.83 million won (US$28,700) for five years, only 0.12 percent of net income and 0.02 percent of sales.

Ahn left the country in 2005 to study overseas. In 2008, he returned and became a professor at KAIST. He began having more and more opportunities to meet the public through his Youth Concert event and TV shows like “The Knee-Drop Guru.” In last October’s Seoul mayoral by-election, Ahn had been rumored to be planning a run, but instead threw his support behind eventual winner Park Won-soon. Early this year, he donated half his stake in AhnLab, valued at around 150 billion won (US$135 million) - a gesture that put him firmly in the public’s confidence. Now a regular presence on the politics pages, he had become a major presidential contender in less than a year’s time. Some observers in and outside the political community were skeptical, wondering if he had been carefully crafting a plan for a presidential run since his Youth Concert days.

Because he emerged so quickly as a political presence, more of his life can be scrutinized compared to the other candidates. No details have been released on his finances or taxes, since he has never run for public office or had to file a public official’s asset report.

In addition to giving away half his shares in AhnLab, he said he would donate the other half if elected. Based on AhnLab’s closing price as of Oct. 8, those shares are valued at over 114 billion won (US$102 million).

In addition to his financial assets, Ahn also has a multipurpose apartment building in Seoul’s Yongsan district, where he says he is living on a key money lease arrangement. The lease amount is believed to be around 1.2 billion won (US$1.08 million). He has also received around 11.7 billion won (US$10.5 million) in dividends over the past 11 years as AhnLab’s majority shareholder, and 780 million won (US$701,000) in salary and stock options over six years as an outside director at POSCO from 2005 to 2011. He is believed to have earned more than 800 million won (US$719,000) in royalties for his book “Ahn Cheol-soo’s Thoughts,” which has sold more than 640,000 copies to date.

His fortune is estimated at 13 billion to 14 billion won (US$11.6 million to US$12.6 million), not including the pay he and his wife received from KAIST and Seoul National University. This is far higher than the 2.18 billion won (US$1.96 million) reported by Park Geun-hye and the 1.08 billion won (US$970,000) reported by Moon Jae-in.

While Ahn generally enjoys a positive image among the public, some have expressed disappointment with his actions. Trivial as it may seem, a number took issue with his charging 13,000 won (US$11.60) for “Thoughts,” the book in which he articulated his political vision.

In his recently released book “‘Ahn Cheol-soo’s Thoughts’ and Other Thoughts,” publishing expert and Bibong Books president Park Gi-bong wrote that a fair price would have been 8,000 won (US$7.20), leaving a margin rate of 200% even if the cost of producing the book and the publisher’s profits were taken into account.

“Knowing full well that it was going to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, he gouged an extra 5,000 won from supporters and readers who were hoping to see him share his thoughts,” Park said.

He went on to say, “Even though he was enjoying a huge ‘external economies’ effect from all the press he was getting, he showed no consideration of sharing that effect even a little bit with readers. Instead, author and publisher racked up extra profits in the billions of won, at least.”

Critics also had harsh words for the decision during the release to supply “Thoughts” only to major bookstores and online booksellers whose numbers counted toward the bestseller list. This move, which comes across as especially ironic given the book’s arguments about “consideration for the disadvantaged” and “consideration for small merchants,” ended up drawing heavy flak from small, neighborhood bookstores.

Another issue many have is that Ahn has reaped the lion’s share of rewards from AhnLab’s skyrocketing stock prices since he entered politics. As of early August 2011, before rumors began spreading about a potential run for Seoul mayor, AhnLab shares were valued at just over 20,000 won (US$17.96). That value soared as more evidence pointed to him running. By the time he declared early this year that he would be giving away half of them, the shares were valued at more than 160,000 won (US$143.69) - a leap of more than 800% in just five months. His own holdings rocketed in value from just over 70 billion won (US$63 million) to more than 300 billion won (US$269 million), prompting many in the public to call his donation pledge the “150 billion won giveaway.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]