Biz execs and hoodlums

Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon in 2007 took the waiters of a bar in Seoul`s entertainment area of Bukchang-dong who beat his son after a quarrel to Mount Cheonggye at night. Accompanied by hoodlums, Kim hit a man who claimed to have beaten his son with a pipe and lynched him. The business executive beat the other waiters because they did not stop the beating of his son. When Kim`s son said, “I don’t think the man hit me,” the chairman went back to Bukchang-dong. When he entered the bar, he smacked the bar owner in the face. Another man who hit the chairman’s son was called in and when the chairman tried to slap him, the son stopped his father and hit the waiter instead.

Choi Cheol-won, former M&M chairman and a member of the SK Group`s owner family, brought a man who was staging a one-man strike in front of the company to his office. One executive made him kneel down and then Choi entered the room. Choi beat the man, saying, “Lie down! One million won (869 U.S. dollars) per hit!” The man asked for help but the beating continued with executives watching him. As the man resisted after being hit 10 times, Choi hit him three more times, saying "Three million won (2,608 dollars) from now on. So I hit you three more times." Then, Choi made the protester stand up, stuffed toilet paper in his mouth, and slapped him in the face.

Lee Eun-wook, former president of fabric softener maker Pigeon, was attacked by a gang on his way home last month. He was named president in February this year but fired by company founder Lee Yoon-jae four months later. Lee Eun-wook was suing the company, and police found out that the founder paid a notorious gang based in Gwangju 300 million won (26,086 dollars) to beat the former president.

Immediately after being summoned by police, the founder was hospitalized and investigated in a patient gown. He eventually escaped a prison sentence. The court canceled the arrest warrant, saying Lee Yoon-jae reached a settlement with the victim and ruling out fears of destruction of evidence or flight despite the suspicion of crime. Kim Seung-yeon and Choi were both sentenced to 18 months in prison in the first ruling, but got their sentences reduced to three years of probation by an appeals court. The court’s leniency on thuggery by business executives will only reinforce the belief that those with money can get off lightly while those without money will end up in prison.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)