[Outliers] Chung Ju-yung

On June 16th, 1998, an 82-year-old man climbed into the lead vehicle of a convoy of 50 trucks loaded with cattle. Behind him were 500 cows raised on a farm he’d reclaimed from the Yellow Sea. As the cows passed, Buddhist monks chanted and women in traditional hanbok dresses lined the road waving as the convoy rolled through the last village before the razor wire barrier separating North and South Korea.

The man in the lead vehicle was Chung Ju-yung, the founder of Hyundai. He was the first South Korean civilian to cross the border since the country was split in half. Four months later, he came back with 501 cows, 1001 cows total. One for the cow that he had stolen from his father 65 years earlier and 1000 for interest.