Choi Won Suk

▪ 1997

      From the barren Sahara to the grasslands of the North African coast, a dramatic ecological transformation was under way in the world's largest desert. South Korea's Dong Ah Construction Industrial Co., under the leadership of Choi Won Suk, was undertaking a Libyan construction project of titanic proportions, the creation of a huge waterway—"the Great Man-Made River (GMR) Project. (See Sidebar (Great Man-Made River ).)

      Thousands of kilometres of pipeline were linked together to form a network to transport water from natural underground reservoirs deep in the Sahara Desert to densely populated coastal areas. The multibillion-dollar project was also attempting to transform the vast wasteland of the Sahara into one of the world's largest areas of fertile farmland. Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi likened the project to the Seven Wonders of the World.

      The central figure in the waterway project was Choi, chairman of the Dong Ah company, which was composed of 16 subsidiaries primarily engaged in construction, transportation, tourism, and finance. The company successfully completed the first stage of the five-phase $27 billion project. It involved the installation of a 1,900-km (1,200-mi) waterway built with prestressed concrete cylinder pipes 4 m (13 ft) in diameter and some 7 m (23 ft) in length. After a decade of construction, the stage-one watercourse was completed at a total cost of $3.8 billion. Up to two million tons of water could flow daily through the network of pipes and ditches connected to 234 wells dug in eastern Libya. The $6.4 billion phase two involved construction of a similar watercourse in western Libya. Completion of the entire project was scheduled for 1999.

      Nicknamed "Big Man" and "Thinking Bulldozer," Choi majored in economics at Hanyang University in Seoul. After his graduation in 1967, he took over Dong Ah from his father, who had started the construction business in 1945. Choi's reputation as one of South Korea's most respected businessmen was established as he successfully completed mammoth road-construction, a nuclear electric power plant, and land-reclamation projects at home and abroad over a period of three decades. He was also well respected for his leadership role with the Construction Association of Korea, Korea Federation of Construction Associations, and Korea Construction Financial Cooperation. Choi spent a sizable portion of his wealth on the promotion of Korean culture by inaugurating the Business Council for the Arts.

      A setback in Choi's steady rise occurred in 1996 when he and a number of other prominent South Korean businessmen were implicated in a political scandal over corporate contributions to former president Roh Tae Woo. Although such payments were traditional and had been considered normal business practice, a court ruled that they constituted bribes. Choi was found guilty by the court in August, but his sentence was suspended. (See Korea, Republic of .) (PARK CHANG SEOK)

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