Covering the food & beverage industry, beauty, fashion, retail markets, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and related people and entities worldwide
Andar seeks to distance itself from founder over problematic behavior
Andar's founder and former CEO Shin Ae-ryun poses during the 2020 Brands of the Year Award at The Shilla Seoul in this December 2020 file photo. Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
Former director's imprisonment term confirmed
Korea's rising sportwear brand Andar on Sunday distanced itself from its founder couple as the firm sought to prevent the disgraced former leaders from tarnishing its public reputation.
Andar’s move came after an appeals panel of the Seoul Western District Court on Thursday upheld the one-year prison sentence of Oh Dae-hyun, former Andar director and husband of the firm’s founder and former CEO, Shin Ae-ryun, by dismissing Oh's appeal. The same court had sentenced Oh last year for violating the country’s National Security Act by collaborating with a North Korean hacker to operate an illegal private server for network gamers in 2014 to 2015.
Andar CEO Kong Sung-ah said in a statement that she wants her company to erase any trace of Oh and Shin, who resigned together in 2021. She added that the company has been seeing improved performance and rising public trust and aims to protect its reputation by distancing the brand from the controversial couple’s actions.
Actress Jun Ji-hyun models for Andar in this promotional image. Courtesy of Andar
“This is to make clear that we in 2021 completely dismissed Oh and Shin from our organization and entrusted our company to professional entrepreneurship under Echo Marketing that now owns Andar’s entire shares,” Kong said. “Following Echo Marketing’s acquisition, we turned surplus shortly and saw the steepest growth we’ve never seen before.”
Kong added that the couple does not own a single share of Andar, dismissing rumors.
Andar on Friday reported third-quarter sales of 77.4 billion won ($53 million), up seven percent from a year earlier and marking a record for the company’s third quarter. However, its operating profit fell to 9.6 billion won from the previous year, reflecting investments to expand into the U.S. market and the opening of its third store in Singapore.
Kong said Oh and Shin had left the company because of their problematic behavior. Oh, in violation of the law, contacted the North Korean hacker and paid him 24 million won to bypass Lineage’s firewall and operate an illegal game. He also asked the hacker to attack other private servers to make his business more profitable and had a history of fraud, assault and defamation.
Shin’s leadership was also tainted by a 2020 sexual harassment case involving a female employee. The employee claimed she was harassed by male colleagues and, instead of being protected, was fired by the company for “incompetence.” Shin issued a written statement defending the company, which drew widespread public backlash.