When the Seoul office moved its operations from the Westin Chosun into new offices at the Kyobo Building near Gwanghwamun in 1992, the Seoul office numbered about 30 members. A nucleus was formed to begin a journey of growth.
“We needed to find outstanding people. The challenge was significant because consulting was new to Korea and to the big companies here. So we had to find people with strong experience who would be well accepted by our clients,” said Jim Bemowski, a former office manager (1993–1998).
“Korean consultants were very entrepreneurial-minded and pioneers because they were making a choice to be with McKinsey at a time when McKinsey wasn’t a big name. Everybody was asking how much commitment the firm had to Korea. We tried to explain to them that we expect this to be a very substantial office with major growth and they became attracted to that mission.”
Kim Dong-jae, a professor at South Korea’s prestigious Yonsei University and a former associate (1992–1994), recalls one Maeil story that was part of a series titled “The McKinsey Seoul Report” that ran with the headline, “The Rolls-Royce of the industry.” This, Kim says, reflected the mystique that surrounded the industry and McKinsey at the time. The newspaper series was a huge success and became a highly popular source of reference and study among Korea’s growing coterie of business people. The office further built its reputation through efforts such as the McKinsey Global Leadership Forum and started to engage various Korean companies in different industries who had heard of McKinsey's growing reputation.