Iran war supercharges secretive Korean tycoon’s big tanker bet

A tanker sails in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. Sinokor is hiring ships out at eye-popping rates of US$500,000 (S$641,000) a day to hold oil. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

WEST ASIA (Bloomberg): As the war in Iran wreaks chaos across global energy markets, one enigmatic Korean tycoon has seen his earnings soar.

For months, Ga-Hyun Chung has been buying up vast quantities of oil tankers - a bet of unprecedented scale that shook the global shipping market even before the conflict started.