Garibong-dong, Seoul.
Since the 1980s, many Yanbian Koreans have gone to South Korea to make money, some to Incheon and some to Seoul.
The first group of Yanbian Koreans who came to Seoul were mostly concentrated in Garibong and Dalindong in Guro District. Over time, the number of Koreans and Northeastern Han people in these two places increased, and gradually people from other regions came here, and the two places became settlements for Chinese.
When people are around, they naturally need to eat. On a small street in Jialifeng, Xian restaurants opened one after another, gradually forming a food street. Because most of the shop owners are from Yanbian and the food they serve is Xian-style, this place is called Yanbian Street.
There is a Lao Pao BBQ restaurant on Yanbian Street. The owner is a thin man with a slight limp in one leg. Within a three-kilometer radius, the owner's cooking skills are notoriously poor. Diners who have come to eat here once will switch to self-service the second time they come. The owner only needs to bring out the meat and the diners will do the rest themselves.
It's strange to say, but the barbecue restaurant with poor cooking skills has surprisingly good business. There were already people eating barbecue in the store after nine o'clock in the morning, and in front of a table, many people were queuing up waiting for a person sitting at the table to order money.
"1.2 million, Caishu, that's a lot this month. Can the handling fee be deducted from it, or can you give it separately?"
"Give me another one." The woman named Caishu took out another 24,000 won from her bag and put it on the table. Her index finger was still scratching the back of the hand of the person who was counting the money. "Brother Shuibai, you haven't been to our store for a long time. There are many new girls here."
"Ah, Xiba, let's talk about it tonight. I'm working." The man called Brother Shuilao said with a little annoyance.
"I'll wait for you."
Caishu gave Shuipiao an ambiguous look, took the receipt from his hand, and vacated her position to allow the person behind her to come forward.
When Monkey first arrived in Yanbian, he quickly made friends with Shuigou, Jinzhu, Guanghu, Qinglong, and Huishu. Shuigou was named because his surname was Pu, so people who knew him well called him Shuigou, and those who were not polite called him dung-water ladle; Jinzhu was named because his surname was Zhu and he was born in the year of the pig, and his snoring sounded like a pig's foot, hence the name.
The other three are their real names, not nicknames.
After spending some time together, Monkey felt that the five people were pretty good. After he learned Korean well, he brought the five people to Seoul, opened the Lao Pao BBQ restaurant as a place to stay, and started the information collection work instructed by Nan Yi.
At the beginning, the barbecue restaurant's business was very poor due to poor . After the New Miracle Agriculture was launched in South Korea and could supply monkeys with high-quality meat and vegetables, diners discovered that Lao Pao BBQ's ingredients were good, and gradually the restaurant gained several regular customers.
Three years ago, the barbecue restaurant expanded its "overseas remittance" business, charging only 2% for handling fees, much lower than the normal 3%-5%, and some even charged 10%, and the speed was very fast. If you remit in the morning, you can receive it in the afternoon. If you want to expedite it, you only need to pay the international long-distance fee, and you can get the money immediately in China after the process is completed here.
With low prices and fast service, business is naturally good. In fact, Lao Pao BBQ has already monopolized the remittance business from Seoul to China.
However, although it is called remittances, it is actually very different from the usual practice of remittances. The Korean won received by Lao Pao BBQ will not leave Seoul, but will be used to buy houses and land.
South Korea's land and housing prices experienced its third peak of real estate speculation from 1987 to 1990.
Taking the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Olympic Games as opportunities, South Korea carried out large-scale development, especially increasing the development of the west coast. In addition, the "three lows" phenomenon of South Korea's economy from the second half of 1985 to the first half of 1987, namely low interest rates, low oil prices, and low won value, led to an average annual increase of 26.7% in land prices and 16.3% in housing prices in South Korea from 1988 to 1990.
In 1989, when real estate speculation reached its peak, land prices nationwide rose by an average of 32% per year, and land prices in Seoul rose by 33.5%. During this period of rising housing prices, house rents also changed constantly. According to the results of the National Housing Price Trend Survey by the Kookmin Bank, from January 1986 to June 1990, housing prices rose by 53.1%, while rents soared by 97.6%.
However, in 1991, with the implementation of South Korea's first property tax reform, housing prices began to fluctuate and fall. The national average land price fell by 1.3% in 1992 and 7.4% this year. The decline in housing prices is also increasing, and the overall trend is downward.
Whether buying a house or speculating in it, few people do not use leverage. Those who have real needs add a small leverage of "mortgage", while those who speculate in it need to add various large leverages, whether it is certain financial loans or usury that cannot be disclosed. As long as the growth of housing prices can show the potential to exceed high interest rates, some people will choose to take a chance.
For people like them, a drop in housing prices would immediately cause a chain collapse. In order to cope with debts, they must sell all or part of the properties they hold as soon as possible to repay the debts. Lao Pao BBQ is a perfect opportunity to buy at the bottom.
In addition, through the relationship with New Miracle Agriculture, Monkey established a relationship with Zheng Zongzhi of Zero Degree Party. The real estate recovered by Zero Degree Party through loan sharking and casino business can be sold to Monkey, while the construction land and commercial land can be sold to New Miracle Group.
Monkey was not in the store at the moment. He went to the airport early in the morning. Only after seeing Nan Ruoyin and Nan Youqiong got on the car safely did he leave the airport and go to Apgujeong-dong.
At No. 522, Apgujeong 2-dong, there is a 4-story building. Each floor is more than 400 square meters, and the four floors add up to about 1,800 square meters. Monkey bought it from Zero Degree Party for only 5 billion won, which is about 2.77 million won per square meter. This is a very affordable price.
At present, the average property price in Seoul is around 3.7 million won per square meter. This price is the average of Gangnam and Gangbuk. Generally speaking, Gangnam is the most expensive area in Seoul, and most of the wealthy areas are concentrated in Gangnam. The housing prices in Gangbuk and Gangnam are completely different.
Apgujeong is a lower-middle-level wealthy area in Gangnam. The normal price of commercial real estate is between 5 million and 12 million. Even if calculated at the lowest price, Monkey has picked up a great bargain.
"Lawyer Liu, is this a suitable place to be my office?"
After Monkey and lawyer Liu Renhui toured the house, Monkey asked for the other party's opinion.
"Mr. Wei, I think it is very suitable. If possible, I would like to use one of the floors as the office of the law firm." Liu Renhui nodded and said.
"This is not something I can decide. When the receivers come, you can negotiate with them yourself." Monkey said, taking a document from Liu Renhui, signing "Wei Houdong" in the signature column, and handing the document back to Liu Renhui. "Have you driven yet?"
"It's open."
"Well, we'll go our separate ways. I'm going to school to take the exam."
Nan Yi would make some arrangements for the old people who followed him, but he would arrange positions based on the principle of making the best use of talents, rather than promotion based on merit. Whether he would sit in an office as a manager in the future, or continue to work in the gray area, everything depended on Monkey himself, so Monkey had been studying for the past few years.
…
Nan Ruoyin and Nan Youqiong did not go to live with Nan Jiajun, but accepted the Li family's hospitality and lived on the top floor of the Shilla Hotel. The Li family vacated a corner of the top floor, and security could be arranged.
After sending the two upstairs and making arrangements for a welcoming dinner, the four members of the Li family said goodbye and left, leaving only Nan Jiajun behind to follow them into Nan Youqiong's room.
The three of them sat in the room and waited for the security to check the room and confirm that there was no problem. Nan Ruoyin took out a tape and handed it to Nan Jiajun, "Brother Jiajun, it contains the improvement plan for the lacquer-patterned cattle. It is encrypted using the fifth encryption method. Dad said you know how to maximize its benefits."
In South Korea, there is a very expensive kind of beef called Korean beef. Not all beef from South Korea is called Korean beef. Strictly speaking, Korean beef is more like a grade of beef.
Beef produced in South Korea is divided into Korean cattle, beef cattle, and dairy cattle. The Korean cattle are pure local breeds of South Korean cattle, and are not mixed with genes from cattle in other countries. Currently, Korean cattle include yellow cattle, black cattle, Jeju black cattle, white cattle, and the nearly extinct lacquer cattle.
South Korea has a set of strict requirements on the breeding environment, methods and slaughtering methods of Korean beef. The quality of Korean beef is judged by quality inspectors appointed by the government, based on the meat color, fat ratio and distribution of the cut surface of the 13th rib of the cattle.
Korean beef will only be sold in butcher shops and restaurants that have been certified as "Korean Beef Sales Stores" by the "Korean Beef Self-Service Fund Management Committee" and the "National Korean Beef Association". The association will conduct surprise inspections on the quality of Korean beef from time to time, and whether other meats are being sold in violation of regulations.
Nan Jiajun took the tape, opened the box to check if it was damaged, then put it away and said to Nan Ruoyin, "I will use it to promote a Korean beef expert, and through him, I will increase New Miracle's voice in Korean beef. Ruoyin, Youqiong, is there any place you want to go?"
"Brother Jiajun, I want to go to Yeouido, check out KBS, and then go to the stock exchange. I'm very curious about the stock market here." Nan Youqiong said.
After Nan Youqiong finished speaking, Nan Ruoyin said, "Brother Jiajun, you can just take Qiong with you. I've been to Seoul before, and I want to go shopping by myself."
"Do you need someone to follow you?"
"No, I'm fine."
The troops split into two groups. Nam Jiajun took Nam Youqiong to Yeouido, while Nam Ruoyin went to Apgujeong alone. They strolled along the brand-name street for a while, went into several brand-name stores, bought a few clothes at random, and then went to a cafe according to the usual shopping routine of women.
Nan Ruoyin walked to a seat, and Liu Renhui, who was already sitting at the table, stood up, bowed slightly and said, "Miss."
"Lawyer Liu, no need to be polite. Please take a seat." Nan Ruoyin smiled and pressed her hand. She sat down opposite Liu Renhui. After asking the waiter to order a cup of coffee, she said to Liu Renhui, "I need data on the amount of gold held by the private sector in South Korea. It doesn't need to be too precise, just an approximate number. Also, let's investigate the situation of the gold black market."
"yes."
Nan Ruoyin stirred the coffee with a small spoon, waiting for the coffee and additives to fully blend, then picked up the cup and took a sip, then casually said, "The last time I came to Seoul, I got a general idea of ​​the real estate market here. I came here again today and found that the changes are quite big. The rapid rise has turned into a small drop. The property tax reform is still quite powerful."
"Miss, do you want to invest in real estate in Seoul?" Liu Renhui asked.
"I have some idea." Nan Ruoyin nodded, and then pouted at the waiter in the cafe, "How much do they earn a month?"
"Full-time jobs are probably more than 1 million won, but usually no more than 1.5 million."
Nan Ruoyin converted the number into US dollars in her mind, "Not a bad income. Compared to this income, the housing prices in Seoul are not high enough. Dad said that young people should shoulder more responsibilities and bear more pressure in life while they are young. If a fake old man like him thinks so, the real old men who were influenced by Confucius should think so too.
A waiter can afford to buy a one-square-meter house after working for three months. The burden is obviously not heavy enough. I think there should be a group of old men who care about young people to prop up the housing prices so that young people can realize more potential.
Therefore, I am optimistic about the future of the Seoul real estate market. Lawyer Liu, please help me with some private work. I personally need a real estate agency in South Korea and a legal person. "
"Okay." Liu Renhui said, "Miss, where should I send the bill?"
"Send it to Xiangzhen, for Meggie." Nan Ruoyin took a sip of coffee and then complained, "The coffee here is really not good. Shepherd Coffee should establish a chain coffee brand in South Korea."
Nan Ruoyin's idea was too late. Winterlin, the general manager of Shepherd Coffee, had already come to South Korea to discuss the import of coffee. He also investigated the chain coffee market in South Korea. A "SoulCoffee" brand had been registered, and the Shepherd team had been established in Seoul. It would not be long before the first store would open for business.
After sitting in the cafe for half an hour, Nan Ruoyin left and took a walk on the street outside. She passed by a newsstand, bought a few newspapers, found a place to sit on the side of the road, sat down, and picked up a newspaper to read.
Nan Ruoyin and Nan Yi have different habits of reading newspapers. She likes to pick out the political and economic content first and then read other content about social life. She always skips the irrelevant gossip and entertainment news.
As she watched, she would also think.
For example, there was content in the newspaper about South Korea's introduction of foreign investment. The policies were relatively open and the investment conditions were relatively favorable. After sorting out the economic-related factors, she began to think about whether the Blue House had political considerations.
The biggest driving force behind the rise of South Korean chaebols was the policy support in the 1960s, and it was strong support. After 30 years of development, several major chaebols stood out. They first united to break the control of politicians over them, and then fought back, from being controlled by politics to controlling politics.
Since 1987, the power of chaebols has been greater than that of politics, and South Korea's political structure has shifted towards an American style. If one wants to move into the Blue House and keep that seat, one cannot do without the support of chaebols.
Since the Blue House changed its owner last year, it has formulated relevant policies to allow foreign investment and factory building in South Korea. For a time, a large amount of foreign capital poured in.
"This should be a counterattack against the chaebols, right? Introduce foreign investment, diversify the economy, suppress chaebol groups, limit their size, and then achieve the separation of finance and power, and get rid of the control of chaebol money."
After thinking for a moment, Nan Ruoyin muttered, "It's a good idea, but South Korea's economy is not as strong as it appears. In order to develop its economy and promote industrialization, South Korea has absorbed too much international debt .
Seeing the success of the chaebols' business model of borrowing and leveraging to expand, small and medium-sized enterprises followed suit and began to expand blindly through borrowing. Their debts kept growing and they had reached the point where they had to pay off debts with debt. They had less than $18 billion in foreign exchange reserves but nearly $90 billion in foreign loans.
When the debt balloon expands to the critical point, as long as someone attacks the Korean won, once the exchange rate can no longer be maintained, the internal credit system established by South Korea will collapse. If a bill of exchange cannot be cashed, it will be like a domino effect, one after another, and companies will go bankrupt one after another. In the end, only the chaebols can barely hold on. With their existence, the economic structure can be reorganized and the South Korean economy can be saved.
Save, hehe, who would be willing to spit out what has been eaten? It would be strange if the chaebols did not take the opportunity to expand.
How to deal with the growing debt that will surely exceed $100 billion?
Nan Ruoyin supported her chin with the back of her hand, looked ahead with blurry eyes. After thinking hard for a while, the three words "debt-to-equity" popped into her mind.
"Dad is interested in the shares of Xingxing, Hyundai and Daewoo? No, Daewoo should be excluded. Daewoo's leverage is too high and it can't withstand the impact of a major crisis. Dad should want to plunder Daewoo's corpse.
The expansion of the New Miracle Group fell on Daewoo and the rescue of the market. New Miracle, Nan Jiajun, stability maintenance, and Youqiong...
Dad pushed Youqiong out so early, do you really want to retire early? "
Nan Ruoyin couldn't figure out what Nan Yi was thinking. After thinking for a while, she put the question aside and continued reading the newspaper.
Li family.
Hong Luoxi brought ginseng chicken soup into Li Jianxi's study. When Li Jianxi stopped his work and began to taste the ginseng chicken soup she cooked, Hong Luoxi said, "President, what do you think of Nan Jiajun?"
Li Jianxi put down the spoon in his hand, picked up the napkin from the tray and wiped his lips, then said slowly: "Remember I told you that Weir Bank took the initiative to come to us?"
"Remember, President, you had just been in office for a year and were announcing your second venture. When the Xing Group was short of funds, representatives from Weir Bank took the initiative to visit you. The President and the other party had a very pleasant conversation and soon reached a loan agreement of US$500 million."
"Yes, the agreement was reached very smoothly. Although the interest rate required by the other party was not cheap, it was still too smooth, without any harsh additional conditions. Pie in the sky, people can't help but be suspicious. At that time, I asked someone to investigate the details of the Weir Bank, but there was not much that could be found. I only knew that there was a Southland Bank Group behind it.
The names of several shareholder companies were found behind the scenes. The shareholders of the company could not be found at all. They were hidden very deeply. It should be intentional because they did not want outsiders to find it easily.
There was no problem with the contract or the funds. Since I couldn't find it, I put the matter aside for the time being. Later, as the group needed development, I got the second and third loans. The process was very easy.
Now, Xingxing Electronics needs to invest a large amount of funds in research and development. I was planning to borrow money from Weir Bank for the fourth time, but this situation occurred. Nan Jiajun turned out to be the adopted son of the major shareholder of Weir Bank..."
Hong Luoxi was surprised and asked, "Adopted son? Why not his biological son?"
"It's impossible that he is a biological child. Nan Jiajun's information is easy to check. He was an orphan from the Brothers' Home Welfare Institute and was adopted by an American couple and taken to the United States. He still retains his South Korean nationality." Li Jianxi frowned. "The American couple are both white, but Nan Jiajun and the two guests today have the surname Nan."
"The surname Nan can only be South Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. President, that Rachel Nan doesn't look like South Korean, nor does she look like Japanese..."
"Like the Chinese, Luo Xi, Rachel Nan may not be biological children. Adam II Taylor Nan also has a nickname Adler. What can you tell from the name?" Li Jianxi asked.
Hong Luoxi thought for a moment, "My father's surname is Nan, my mother's surname is Taylor, and my father's English name is Adam, Adler... This seems to be a Jewish name."
"That's right. When I was studying abroad at George Washington University, I had a classmate who was Jewish. His last name was Adler. He once told me that only Jews have the last name Adler."
"Jews, bankers? There is a banker behind the New Miracle Group?" Hong Luoxi said with a hint of surprise: "President, Nan Jiajun..."
Li Jianxi waved his hand to interrupt Hong Luoxi, "It's not that simple. Put your thoughts aside for now and try to find out the other party's background at the dinner. Don't be too obvious and try to hint at them. We can consider other things later."
"Yes, President." Hong Luoxi nodded.
…