Chung’s portrayal as Joker removed

By Kim Tae-gyu

Staff reporter

A court has ordered the union of a subcontractor of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group to pull down the cartoonish portrait of the carmaker’s Chairman Chung Mong-koo at its headquarters in southern Seoul.

The banner in question depicts Chung as the Joker, an evil character from the Batman comic book series.

The Seoul Central District court announced Sunday that it had accepted the request by Hyundai Automotive to enforce the removal of the offensive banner.

The banner was set up by unionists of its subcontractor Donghee Industrial.

The portrait portrays Chung with his eyes painted black and his mouth red to resemble the Joker.

``The banner is a defamatory remark on Chairman Chung. Although unionists claim that it is an honest reflection of the character of the chairman, we cannot agree with their assertion, based on the materials they submitted,’’ the court said.

The temporary workers of Donghee have staged rallies around the head office of Hyundai Automotive to protest unfair dismissals.

They contend that Chung hired outsourcing companies and fired workers when they attempted to set up a trade union.