By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Police booked nine gangsters from three criminal rings, in an investigation involving allegations against Kim Seung-youn, chairman of the Hanwha Group.
They were questioned by police to prove Kim mobilized gangsters to assault six men, in an act of revenge for injuries to his younger son suffered in a brawl at a posh karaoke bar on March 8, which left him with 11 stitches.
Kim was arrested on charges including collective violent assault, the use of weapons and mobilization of gangsters.
The investigation revealed that Kim’s chief secretary mobilized the gangsters with the help of criminal gangs’ bosses, on the orders of the 55-year-old CEO, police said.
According to mobile phone records and credit card payments, the secretary phoned an auditor of a Hanwha Group subsidiary and the president of a construction subcontractor of the group on the day of the incident.
The auditor ordered a mid-level boss to gather three gang members, and the president mobilized two gangsters. On the orders of Kim’s chief bodyguard, a former boxer who runs a bar in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, also asked a gang boss to mobilize his men for the assault.
If police prove them guilty, the total number of the people facing punishment, including Kim and his son, will be 24.
The police also summoned some victims, investigating another allegation that the assaulted men offered Kim a compensation deal for the attack, requesting 8 billion won, when the initial investigation was launched.
Police are expected to transfer the case to the prosecution May 16 or 17, as the investigation is in its final stages.
Meanwhile, Kim, who has been in jail at the Namdaemun Police Station since Friday, is suffering from depression following a conversation with his wife and two sons on a videophone, Monday, with a previous conversation Sunday evening, the police said.
He did not sleep well overnight and skipped breakfast yesterday, police said.