He was born as the second son of a large landowner in Gyeongnam Prefecture, and with the large amount of money he had gained from export of rice, he established Samsung Trading Company in Daegu Metropolitan City in 1938, which developed later the Samsung Group.
彼は慶尚南道の大地主の次男として生まれ、米の輸出で得た多額の資金を元手に1938年に大邱広域市にて三星商会を設立し、これがのちのサムスングループに発展していった。