Daewoo expanded into the construction industry, helping the new village movement, a development program for rural Korea. The corporation also capitalized on the growing Middle Eastern and African markets. Daewoo was given its GTC designation at this time. Major investment help was offered by the South Korean government to the corporation in the form of subsidized loans. The competing nations were angered by South Korea's strict import controls, but the government knew that, without help, the chaebols will never survive the global recession caused by the oil crisis in the 1970s. Protectionist policies were required to ensure that the economy continued to grow.
Daewoo's move into shipbuilding was required by the government, even though Kim felt that both Hyundai and Samsung had greater knowledge in heavy engineering and was more suitable to shipbuilding than Daewoo. Kim did not want to assume responsibility for the largest dockyard within the world, at Okpo. He said many times that the Korean government was stifling his entrepreneurial instinct by forcing him to carry out actions based on responsibility rather than profit. In spite of his reluctance, Kim was able to turn Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Machinery into a very profitable corporation manufacturing competitively priced oil rigs and ships on a tight production timetable. This took place during the 1980s when the economy within South Korea was going through a liberalization stage.
The government throughout this time was lessening its protectionist measures that helped to fuel the rise of small companies and medium-sized businesses. Daewoo had to divest two of its textile companies at this time and the shipbuilding business was starting to attract more foreign competition. The goal of the government was to shift to a free market economy by encouraging a more efficient allocation of resources. Such a policy was intended to make the chaebols more aggressive in their international dealings. However, the new economic conditions caused some chaebols to fail. Amongst Daewoo's competitors, the Kukje Group, went into liquidation in the year 1985. The shift of government favour to small private businesses was intended to spread the wealth which had before been concentrated within Pusan and Seoul, Korea's industrial centers.