A State-Run Enterprise: A Bane or a Boon?: A Case of the Korean Shipping Corporation, 1950-19681

In the less than 70 years since Korean liberation, Korea has grown to be one of the world's top five ship-owning countries in 2014. This can be attributed to a few factors such as government policy, Korea Shipping Corporation (KSC, hereafter) and merchant marine officers. This paper will expound the true motivations of the establishment and the privatization of KSC in 1950 and in 1968, respectively. KSC, as Korea's national shipping company, sailed along a very unusual course of development. It was established in 1950 not to foster and develop Korea's shipping industry but to help alleviate the financial burdens of the fledgling Korean government. The main cause of privatizing KSC in 1968 was a purely political decision, not an economic one as it overlapped with the rapid growth period of the shipping industry in the world, as well as in Korea. In sum, KSC, a state-run enterprise, was a bane in the short run but a boon in the long run for both the Korean government and Korea's shipping industry. If we can believe KSC followed the ordinary sailing route as a state-run enterprise, we might develop a new opinion that the national shipping company might be a financial burden in a short period, but various benefits over a long period.