Hanwha Chairman Kim Questioned

Kim Seung-young, the 55-year-old CEO of Hanwha Group, voluntarily appeared at Seoul Namdaemun Police Station at 4 p.m. on April 29, to be questioned by the police as a suspect in a brawl case. The owner of one of Korea’s largest conglomerates is suspected of beating up a number of men working for a club in Bukchang-dong, Seoul, in revenge for an assault on his son. It is the first time in Korea that a chaebol chairman has been summoned under charges of using violence. Questioned by the journalists whether he battered the men in person, he answered, “I will tell it to the police. I apologize to the public. I will cooperate with the police’s investigation and clarify the facts of the incident.”

Chairman Kim was probed by an investigation team consisting of three officers—an agent from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and heads of the Inspection Department and Homicide Team at Namdaemun Police Station—in the testimony recording room of the police station. In order to prevent disputes over the fairness of the inspection, a lawyer from Hanwha group was allowed in and the entire testimony was recorded on video tape.

The police focused their questions on whether Chairman Kim attacked the men or issued orders to do so in person; whether he mobilized gangsters; whether he used weapons; and whether he kidnapped the men and confined them in a certain place on Mt. Cheonggye to beat them up. If the suspicions turn out to be true, it seems inevitable that Kim will be arrested and be subject to further law enforcement measures.

“We are going to cross-examine Kim with the alleged victims if he denies the charges, but they are refraining from testifying right now for fear of retaliation,” a police spokesperson said.

Police initially had plans to summon Chairman Kim’s 22-year-old second son in the morning of April 28 before investigating his father. Kim’s son, however, had already departed to China on April 25, joining a field study team of the Department of Asian History at Seoul National University. The son is a student of Yale University and is currently studying at SNU as a visiting student.

The fieldwork team will return on April 30. Hanwha Group announced that “Chairman Kim’s second son will voluntarily appear before the police as soon as he returns.”

The police investigated 14 people, including Kim’s bodyguards and the club workers, on April 29, and six bodyguards were booked on charges of assault without detention.

imsun@donga.com