Half-Billion Won Debt Puts Yookyoung Foundation Up for Auction

The Yookyoung Foundation office in the Children’s Center in Neung-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul will be put up for auction.

The Seoul Eastern District Court announced Friday that it accepted an auction application from Cho, 47, who claimed that the foundation had 500 million won worth of bonds. The first bidding on the Yookyoung Foundation will begin September 5. Items to be put up for bidding are the foundation science hall and culture hall. Their appraised value is considered to be 12.145 billion won.

Cho is a former advisor to the foundation and rented the foundation office’s parking lot and swimming pool from 1997 to 2001. Cho filed a lawsuit when there was a conflict with the foundation in the process of calculating the deposit after the rent contract expired.

The foundation won the first trial, but the Seoul High Court ordered the foundation to pay Cho 500 million won. Cho submitted an auction application to court based on this ruling.

However, it seems unlikely that the building would be passed on to someone else via auction. Even after the auction gets the go-ahead, the foundation only has to pay Cho the 500 million won or entrust the same amount with the court to keep the building in its hands.

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com