Born: 1739, South Korea
Died: 1812
Country most active: South Korea
Also known as: Gim Man-deok, Grandmother Man-deok, 김만덕, 金萬德, Gim Mandeok, Kim Mandŏk
Jenie Hahn on Kim Manduk transcript
Kim Manduk, heroine of 1700s Jeju, is also known as Korea’s first CEO.
During the Joseon dynasty, Jeju was a place of exile for aristocratic yangban, like her father, who had fallen out of favor. By the time Kim Manduk was 12, she had lost both of her parents and was taken in by a gisaeng, a lower-status woman whose profession was entertaining men. By age 20, she had risen to become the head gisaeng and at 24, she left gisaeng life to go into business for herself. First, she opened an inn for merchants, and went on to build an import/export empire, acting as an intermediary between the mainland and the island. By the time she was 50, Kim was reputedly one of the two richest people in Joseon.
This was all the more impressive because women in the Joseon Dynasty had no status and were expected to stay out of the public eye. But as an island, Jeju’s culture, distinct from that of the mainland, allowed for women to experience more freedom and gain more power. Contributing to this is the tradition of women sea divers, which Kim’s mother may have been and Kim could have become had she not been orphaned.
In 1792, Jeju was hit with a famine due to floods and crop failures, and a combination of strong winds and high tides made it difficult for boats to reach the island. Additionally, years of Joseon governmental taxation meant that Jeju locals had to prioritize harvesting abalone and producing citrus fruits to pay as taxes, rather than growing staple crops like grains. Kim’s people were starving. In response, she sent out her own ships and opened her own stores of rice – one of her main business imports – and spent all of the wealth she had accumulated over the course of decades to feed as many people as she could.
Word of this made it to the Joseon king, Jeongjo, who was so impressed that he offered to reward her. Despite having depleted all of her assets, Kim refused any monetary compensation. Instead, she only asked to travel to visit the Kumgangsan mountain – an extraordinary request because as a place of exile, it was illegal for Jeju residents to leave the island. Her wish was granted, and Jeongjo’s prime minister wrote a biography of Kim, titled Man-deok jeon. It is one of many commemorations of her life, including a museum that bears her name in Jeju today.