By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong was ordered Sunday to surrender a penthouse at a Seoul hotel which he leased for 25 years for just 328 won (31 cents) per day.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of CDL Hotel Korea, the owner of Millennium Seoul Hilton, which filed the lawsuit to nullify the long-term lease of the penthouse.
The former owner of the hotel, Daewoo Development, signed the contract with Kim, 72, in early 1999 to lease the 23rd floor, 903 square meter penthouse, for 25 years at just 120,000 won per year. Later the same year, CDL Hotel Korea took over the hotel.
``Ahead of Daewoo Group's bankruptcy, Daewoo Development leased it to Kim for almost free. The deal negatively affected the sale price of the hotel,'' the court said in a ruling. ``It is the company head's breach of trust and an antisocial act. Therefore, the contract is invalid.''
Given Kim's age, it was a free, lifelong lease, it said. ``It is a privilege to an individual, regardless of his position as Daewoo chairman.''
CDL Hotel Korea filed the suit in January last year, saying it could use the penthouse for guests as Kim was no longer using it. Kim stayed overseas between late 1999 and June 2005 so as to avoid investigation into corruption allegations involving the group.
After returning to Korea, he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison and slapped with an 18 trillion won confiscation order. He was pardoned last year for medical treatment and has yet to pay the money back.