In July of 1919, rain teemed down all across Korea, and it had been pouring almost everyday since mid-June. JongMann Lee, a timber merchant in his mid-30s, was unlucky enough to be living in Mt. Kumgang, a major flood area. As he looked into the sky, he sighed in distress and wondered, “Will this be another failure?” He had just lost a big pile of logs that he had been planning to transport to a nearby port.

Fourteen long years had passed since he left home in 1905 at a young age with nothing but a big ambition. He failed in everything he tried, but the loss of his logs was different in that he absolutely had no control over the situation. He lost every penny he had, and stayed drunk for days and nights while cursing his fate. He even thought about taking his own life.

Finally, he decided that he could not end his life so soon. He had big dreams, and he was still young and full of energy. Holding a grudge would not solve anything, and so he headed to a new place, continuing his trend of the past fourteen years.

On May 12, 1937, a news conference was held in the ChunJinRoo Inn in Seoul. Establishment of the DaeDong Mining Co., was officially announced in the conference. Reporters wondered why it was held in a humble inn instead of a luxurious hotel, since the conference was for a huge company with the capital of 3 million won (300 million dollars, current value) and a mining site of thousands of acres.

A gentleman in his early fifties started the conference in a calm manner. “I’m sorry to invite you to such a modest place. I stay in this inn whenever I come to Seoul, for I have no home here. I beg your pardon for any inconveniences. As you may already know, I sold the YoungPyoung Gold Mines at 1 million 550 thousand won yesterday. The reason why I invited you today is because I have an announcement about a plan to establish a foundation named the DaeDong Farming Co., for which I plan to donate 500 thousand won (50 million dollars, current value).”

As soon as he made the announcement, the crowd began to murmur and stir in awe. Most reporters had expected a bragging success story, but what they heard was a shocking plan that this gentleman was about to donate huge sum of money for sharecroppers who were strangers to him. JongMann Lee’s plan to support sharecroppers was carefully designed. It did not seem like a disguised charity, which is often announced without structure. Lee, on the other hand, had a careful plan.

“First of all, the Foundation will acquire lands in Chosun (Korea) to construct several collective farms. Second, farmers can stay on the farmland as long as they desire. Third, the Foundation will collect 30% of the year’s crops from farmers and will spend the money to build more farms. The collection will be done for 30 years so that farmers will own everything after 30 years. The farmland, however, will be owned by the Foundation to prevent farmers from losing their lands by selling them or getting a loan against the land. This policy is only to help farmers lead stable lives. Fourth, the farms will be self-governed and farmers will upgrade their farming skills in a learning center.”

The DongA Daily News, in its editorial in the September 17, 1937 issue, highly praised Lee’s plan, saying, “It is a pity that he could only acquire limited land so that only 153 farmers could join.” Lee’s charities were so influential to society that people coined a new word, GongBu, meaning a tycoon devoting to public interest.

JongMann Lee was born in 1885 as the second son to a humble farmer who had seven children. He started learning in his early years, but was struck ill at sixteen and was thus unable to continue his studies for three years. Taught to persevere and stick to his choices, he resumed learning at nineteen but had to give up soon afterwards due to another sickness.

In 1905, when he turned 20, Lee started running a seafood store in a harbor city, Busan. He thought that a big city would be suitable for success. Business was booming due to Russo-Japanese Wars. Japanese dealers purchased any brown seaweed regardless of quality. He later found out that Japanese dealers sold brown seaweed to pharmaceutical companies for hefty profits. Brown seaweed was used to make iodine tincture. Demand for iodine tincture was hiked due to the Russo-Japanese Wars of 1904.

In the spring of 1905, Lee spent all the money he had to pile up brown seaweed. Big chunks of profit seemed like a sure thing. In late May, a major naval battle was fought between Japan and Russia, where the Japanese fleet demolished the Russian fleet in a day. This abruptly ended the Russo-Japanese Wars, which had been expected to continue for many more years. Brown seaweed’s prices plummeted.

In order to pay debts, he went on working for a fishery. In about 2 years, he managed to pay his debts and obtained adequate fishing skills. In 1907, at age twenty-two, he rented a boat to start his own fishing business. His boat overturned during a sea storm, and he had to give up again. Later he returned home and founded a school. Soon, elders in the town boycotted the school and blamed him for dishonoring the traditional teachings. This was yet another of his bitter failures.

In 1914, when Lee closed his school, WWI broke out. Japan soon joined the allied forces and started to provide war supplies. The price of tungsten skyrocketed, since tungsten was essential for arms production. He started to mine tungsten. He worked days and nights for 2 years to make 50 thousand won (5 million dollars, current value). He dreamed about doing meaningful works for society after a few more years of working.

Sadly, yet again, destiny was not on his side. In 1918, the war ended and the price of tungsten plunged. He was left with only a little money after he paid all his debts. He could not recoup his investment on expensive equipment. He left the mine and came to Mt. KumGang to be engaged in a timber business. Again, this unlucky guy lost all he had in a flood in 1919 when he was 34.

In 1923, he went to Seoul, leaving his hometown. At 38, he felt like he could no longer postpone his serious work for society until he made a fortune. He changed his plans and decided to start social work. He established a school for poor children. He devoted himself to teaching and taking care of unfortunate children. He had to close the school in 5 years for insufficient funds, and later tried several businesses with no success.

Lee never lost his spirit in any distress. He rose again like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes. On December 27, 1931, when he almost turned 46, he started a gold mine with only 13,000 dollars (in current value) in hand. Making a small fortune out of the mine, he went everywhere to find a good gold mine. In 1932, he obtained the mining rights of the YoungPyoung Gold Mine. It was his 29th business.

YoungPyoung Gold Mine was once a well-known alluvial gold mine, but was abandoned for a while. Lee reckoned that the mine must have gold-bearing stones since it had abundant alluvial gold before. He poured huge investments into the mine to investigate gold veins. As per his expectations, it turned out to be a rich mine with plentiful gold. In 1936 alone, he gained gold worth forty million dollars in current value.

He did not waste the fortune on himself. Instead, he invested money to expand equipment and facilities and to purchase more mines. Finally, he obtained the mining rights of the JangJin Gold Mine, the biggest gold mine in Korea. It had 400 potential mining lots, including nine registered lots in a huge area of thousands of acres.

He became the top mogul of gold mines. He surprised the whole nation, but not for his fortune, even though he had had countless consecutive failures in his thirty years. The 1930s observed so many instant millionaires through the gold mine business that around 10 people gained instant fortunes every year. Rather, society was struck with admiration for the marvelous way he spent his fortune.

Out of the 155 million dollars (in current value) he made by selling the YoungPyoung Gold Mine, he spent 80 million dollars for society, including the 50 million dollars for his foundation of collective farms. He nevertheless remained modest about his donation to society. He decided that one or two million dollars would be sufficient for his family, and he was obligated to society for the rest of his fortune.

In 1938, Lee became the CEO of a conglomerate which had 5 large enterprises: DaeDong Gold Mine, DaeDong Mines Association, DaeDong Farming Co., DaeDong Publishing Co., and the DaeDong College of Industry. Using profits from DaeDong Gold Mine, he sponsored small mines, needy sharecroppers, cultural development, and funded science ventures. He fulfilled his lifetime dreams, one by one.

“All workers should prosper together,” was his simple yet powerful business philosophy, which gave him, in return, maximum productivity. He shared accruing profits with his employees, proving his philanthropy. Unfortunately, the DaeDong conglomerate ended up with failure, as all his 28 previous businesses did. Such a blessing to both Lee and Korea could not carry on because DaeDong Gold Mine, the only profitable business in the conglomerate, could not afford such huge losses from other businesses. Later, he tried another mining business but could not succeed.

In 1977, Lee died at 92. For 92 long years, he never truly succeeded in business, and achieved a score of 30 failures in 30 attempts. Nevertheless, his failures were great ones. Lee relentlessly pursued fortune, not to enjoy it for himself but to spend it for others.