The Man Who Sold a Cow and Built an Empire

Chung Ju-yung was born on November 25, 1915, in a small, poor village in what is now North Korea. Raised in a peasant family with little means, Chung’s childhood was marked by poverty and hardship. His father was a strict Confucian man who expected his children to remain on the farm, work the land, and uphold traditional values. But young Chung dreamed of something bigger far beyond the rice fields of his hometown. At the age of 18, driven by ambition and a deep desire to escape poverty, Chung made a bold decision. He secretly sold his father’s only cow the family's most valuable asset and used the money to flee to Seoul. It was a daring move that infuriated his father but would eventually change the fate of South Korea. In Seoul, life was not easy. He took on various odd jobs carrying rice, working in construction, and even running a small rice store, which was seized during the Japanese occupation. Undeterred by repeated failures, Chung remained resilient and determined. After Korea gained independence from Japan in 1945, Chung founded a small auto repair shop. This shop would eventually evolve into what we know today as Hyundai. In the beginning, Hyundai focused on construction and quickly became instrumental in rebuilding South Korea after the devastation of the Korean War. From dams and highways to the iconic Gyeongbu Expressway connecting Seoul and Busan, Hyundai was at the heart of Korea’s rapid modernization. By the 1970s, Chung set his sights on the automobile industry an unthinkable ambition for a nation with no history in car manufacturing. In 1976, Hyundai released South Korea’s first domestically produced car: the Hyundai Pony. Experts laughed. Critics said Koreans couldn’t make cars. But Chung’s belief was simple: “Have you tried?” And he did. Under his leadership, Hyundai Motors expanded globally, producing cars that eventually rivaled the world’s top automakers. Hyundai didn’t just build cars it built the confidence of an entire nation. In 1998, at the age of 83, Chung did something symbolic and deeply emotional. As a gesture of peace and reconciliation, he returned to North Korea not with a handshake, but with 1,001 cows. Why 1,001? Because he had taken one cow, and now he wanted to give back a thousand more plus one extra, just in case. It was his way of closing a full circle, paying back what he had once taken, and offering a bridge of hope between the two Koreas. Chung Ju-yung passed away in 2001, but his legacy lives on. From a stolen cow to a global empire, his journey is one of daring, resilience, and boundless vision. He didn’t just build Hyundai he helped build modern South Korea.