What happens if Musk does business here?

Suh Kyoung-ho
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

“Like Gulliver, tied down by thousands of little strings, we lose our freedom by one regulation at a time,” wrote Elon Musk — the tycoon of an ever-expanding technology empire — on Twitter, which he rebranded as X after acquiring the powerful social media platform.

Musk has been a vehement opponent of government regulations, except for those on artificial intelligence. He has been blatantly challenging government authorities as they closed in on his tech companies for breaching rules and regulations. He ridiculed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as “the fun police” after the agency said Tesla’s Boombox feature may hinder pedestrians’ ability to hear warning sounds and increase the risk of a crash.

Musk accused the Federal Aviation Administration’s space division of having a “fundamentally broken regulatory structure” after it didn’t approve a Starship test launch, citing its violation of the terms of the SpaceX launch license. That’s not all. When he clashed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) over the stock manipulation allegation in 2018, he famously mocked, “SEC, three letter acronym, middle word is Elon’s.”

The tech czar is at war with an array of federal agencies. Tesla was sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for tolerating severe harassment of Black employees at its flagship assembly plant in California, and his spaceship expedition is suspended as SpaceX has been ordered to take 63 corrective actions before it tests another Starship launch after the mid-flight explosion in April.

Another challenge comes from the Fish and Wildlife Service which is probing the rocket launch’s harm on the surrounding environment in Texas. Musk is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission over privacy issues related to Twitter.

You can hardly find fault with the federal authorities’ investigations of Musk, as they offer strong grounds for their probe. But Musk continues to jeer at them on the social media platform he owns and even provocatively smokes weed on live broadcasts.

Musk is also infamous for his ruthless and hands-on approach to running his business. Workers’ rights are often ignored in the crusade to pursue corporate interests. Just a week after acquiring Twitter last year, he sacked half of the staff on the payroll without any prior notice. His flamboyant private life and unfiltered candor, shared in detail on social media, draw avid critics and fans alike. He is not ashamed to blandish China, as it is a key market for Tesla.

Musk seems to be proud of being an eccentric. On NBC’s Saturday Night Live in 2021, he casually said. “To anyone I’ve offended, I just wanna say: I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you also think I was gonna be a chill, normal dude?”

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SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk grimaces after arriving on the red carpet for the Axel Springer award in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 1, 2020. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Walter Issacson, a journalist who recently published a biography of Musk, in his closing sentences, wrote, “Sometimes great innovators are risk-seeking man-children who resist potty training […] They can be reckless, cringeworthy, sometimes even toxic. They can also be crazy. Crazy enough to think they can change the world.”

Like it or not, the public statements the quirky entrepreneur can afford to make in America can only be envied by his Korean counterparts. Musk could be detested by many, especially outside the United States. But there is no denying that he stands as one of the most successful and innovative businessmen today. He could never dream of pursuing his ideas and ambitions if he had been in China under Xi Jinping’s rule. He would have quietly disappeared from the business scene, just like Jack Ma of Alibaba did after he took on authorities. Ma now teaches at the University of Tokyo as a visiting professor.

Few businessmen can dare to outright criticize the government in Korea. The late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee had suffered after he in 1995 defined Korean politics as fourth-rate, bureaucracy and administrative organization third-rate, and companies second-rate. His observation is still accurate. Former Tada CEO Lee Jae-woong may have been the sole critic of government regulations until he was acquitted of breaking the transportation rules with his innovative van-hailing service.

Musk could not have been as aggressive if he had been in Korea. Corporate leaders in Korea learn to act to win favor with the presidential office, because making an enemy with the ruling power can cost their business. They willingly take on the extra government job, sometimes cheering for Busan EXPO or the Federation of Korean Industries.

Innovators like Musk may never be born in Korea. New mobility service Tada was stamped out, and legal platform service LawTalk is also fighting an uphill battle against the establishment under the negligence of the government. Lawmakers habitually summon tech moguls to their office to pressure them. Under such an environment, we can never imagine the likes of Musk in Korea.