Born of This Land

The autobiography of Chung Ju-yung, who left a farming village in what is now North Korea with nothing, opened an auto-repair shop, and built Hyundai — construction, shipbuilding, cars, heavy industry — into one of the largest industrial groups in the world, alongside the postwar reconstruction of South Korea itself. Nine chapters, written when Chung was in his eighties, covering the Japanese colonial period, the Korean War, the contracting business that grew on American military work, and the shipyard and highway projects he took on before he had the capacity to deliver them.

Why it’s on the list: Bold on @mastersinvest’s 2025 list, meaning the curator rated it very good rather than merely read.

Where I saw it: @mastersinvest’s “2025 Reading … so far” list, August 20, 2025, where it appears in bold, annotated “Chung Ju-yung, founder Hyundai”. The full 46-title list is transcribed on 2025 Reading So Far… (tweet).

Connections

• 2025 Reading So Far… (tweet) — the list this came from.
• HD Hyundai — the shipbuilding and heavy-industry arm of the group Chung built, and the only Hyundai page in the wiki so far.