Daewoo expanded into the construction industry, serving a development program for rural Korea, the new village movement. The company also took advantage of the burgeoning Middle Eastern and African markets. Daewoo received its GTC designation during this time. The government of South Korea offered major investment support to the corporation in the form of subsidized loans. The competing countries were angered by the strict import controls of South Korea, but the government knew that, unaided, the chaebols would never endure the world recession caused by the oil crisis during the 1970s. Protectionist policies were necessary to make sure that the economy continued to grow.
Daewoo's move into shipbuilding was required by the government, even though Kim felt that both Samsung and Hyundai had greater expertise in heavy engineering and was more suitable to shipbuilding than Daewoo. Kim did not want to assume responsibility for the biggest dockyard within the world, at Okpo. He stated many times that the government of Korea was stifling his entrepreneurial instinct by forcing him to undertake actions based on duty rather than profit. In spite of his reluctance, Kim was able to turn Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Machinery into a successful company manufacturing ships and oil rigs that are competitively priced on a tight production schedule. This happened during the 1980s when the economy within South Korea was going through a liberalization stage.
Throughout this period, the government relaxed its protectionist measures and encouraged the existence of medium- and small-sized businesses. Daewoo was forced to divest two of its important textile companies, and its shipbuilding industry faced stiffer competition from abroad. The government's objective was to shift to a free market economy by encouraging a more effective allocation of resources. Such a policy was intended to make the chaebols more aggressive in their global dealings. Nonetheless, the new economic conditions caused some chaebols to fail. Amongst the competitors of Daewoo, the Kukje Group, went into bankruptcy during the year 1985. The shift of government favour to small private businesses was intended to spread the wealth which had previously been concentrated in Seoul and Pusan, Korea's industrial centers.