Dongwon's founder resigned at 84 on the group's 50th birthday and handed it to his son

Kim Jae-chul founded Dongwon in 1969 as a tuna fishing operation and built it into a Korean food and logistics conglomerate. On 16 April 2019, at the group's 50th anniversary celebration, the 84-year-old announced his resignation — a rare voluntary, feud-free exit by a first-generation Korean founder.

Control passed to his younger son Kim Nam-jung, vice chairman since 2013, who already held 67.98% of the holding company Dongwon Enterprise against his father's 24.5%. At 45, the younger Kim became one of Korea's youngest conglomerate chiefs; his elder brother ran Korea Investment Holdings, the securities firm the family had separated earlier.

The son had already driven Dongwon's expansion beyond canned tuna — adding Dongbu Express in 2016 and overseas businesses — and over the next four years the group put about ₩1.3 trillion into future growth areas including materials and logistics.

Only in March 2024, five years after taking control, was Kim Nam-jung promoted to chairman, filling a seat his father had left vacant the whole time. Dongwon Industries posted ₩8.94 trillion in consolidated sales for 2023.

₩1.3T invested in future growth over four years; Dongwon Industries sales of ₩8.94T by 2023; chairman role filled in 2024 after five years vacant

Announcing at the 50th anniversary framed the exit as completion, not decline.

The son's 67.98% holding-company stake made the succession tax-clean and dispute-proof in advance.

Separating the elder brother into finance earlier removed the classic chaebol sibling rivalry.

Leaving the chairman title vacant for five years let the heir prove himself before taking it.

Hand over control early, the title late: the son held the stake and ran deals for five years before anyone called him chairman.

Kim Nam-jung became chairman in 2024 and pledged 'bold investments' in new growth engines. Dongwon bid for shipping line HMM in 2023 — losing to Harim — but is expected to keep hunting large logistics deals.