Who will be grilled at this year's National Assembly audit?

A number of industry leaders as well as figures central to a slew of scandals of great public interest will testify at the National Assembly audit starting next week.

Included will be heads of financial groups, e-commerce firms, entertainment agencies, affiliates of tech titans as well as a zinc smelting firm and a private equity firm.

Financial leaders

Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong and NH NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Seok-yong will appear before the National Policy Committee over repeated cases of employee misconduct and questionable lending practices.

Yim will be grilled over suspicions that relatives of former group Chairman Son Tae-seung were granted a total of 35 billion won ($26 million) in poorly evaluated loans between April 2022 and Jan. 16.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said the remaining outstanding balance of the loan came to 30.4 billion won as of July 19. Over 88 percent, or 26.9 billion won, is backed by collateral but is non-performing. Up to 15.8 billion won will be unrecoverable, according to Woori Bank.

A lack of internal control identified as a cause of the long-overlooked lending practices will restrict the holding firm's funding to its subsidiaries.

Lee will be under scrutiny over NH NongHyup Bank’s four instances of financial misconduct.

Included are 10.9 billion won in improperly granted loans in February based on falsified sales contracts. In May, the bank incurred 5.3 billion won in losses due to the official document forgery and breach of trust. It also reported 1.1 billion won in losses relating to loans granted to made-up home buyers that the bank employees created.

Qoo10

Qoo10 head Ku Young-bae will appear before the National Policy Committee over the settlement failure fiasco that began in July.

The Singapore-based firm operates WeMakePrice and TMON, two beleaguered e-commerce firms used by small local merchants.

The firm’s overextended global expansion drive despite questionable financial profiles of its subsidiaries fueled concerns that risks of a chain of defaults across the greater financial market will continue to heighten.

Weeks of continued debacles prompted the FSS to pledge its fortified cooperation to limit the scope of consumer harm and the transaction intermediaries, including card and payment firms as well as the tourism industry.

The Fair Trade Commission has since established a consumer complaint response team to aid consumers seeking remedy in civil court.

Kakao Pay

Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun will appear before the National Policy Committee over allegations that the firm handed over data on 40 million users to its second-largest shareholder, Alipay Singapore Holdings, without consent from its users.

The holding company with over a 32 percent stake in Kakao Pay is an affiliate of Alipay, tied to China’s Ant Group. Kakao Pay is the settlement and payment subsidiary of the beleaguered Kakao Corp.

The Kakao subsidiary maintains the data was handed over to provide Apple App Store payment services to Kakao Pay users, as mediated legitimately by Alipay.

However, the law governing the use and protection of credit information requires user consent before collecting their data or providing it to a third party. Consent was needed because Alipay is an overseas entity.

Young Poong, Korea Zinc and MBK

Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom, Young Poong adviser Chang Hyung-jin and MBK Partners founder and Chairman Kim Byung-ju will appear before the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee.

They will be grilled over the ongoing tender offer for the shares of Korea Zinc and its key affiliate Young Poong Precision, engineered jointly by Chang and the private equity firm.

Young Poong adviser Chang initiated the buyout, Sept. 12, to take control of Korea Zinc, enraged by zinc smelter Chairman Choi’s two-year efforts to increase stakes in the firm in a move to cement independence from Chang.

Mercedes-Benz Korea

Mercedes-Benz Korea President and CEO Mathias Vaitl will appear before the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee over a catastrophic fire caused by its EQE electric vehicle (EV) in August.

The fire occurred in an apartment complex parking garage in Incheon, destroying over 40 vehicles and damaging hundreds of others.

The German luxury carmaker’s lack of timely countermeasures drew heated criticism.

The EQE sedan was equipped with a battery manufactured by China’s Farasis Energy instead of what was initially believed to be the world’s top battery maker CATL.

NewJeans

NewJeans member Hanni will appear before the Environment and Labor Committee over alleged workplace bullying.

The appearance followed a complaint filed by New Jeans’ fans with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, with claims of workplace harassment.

Their move was prompted by Hanni’s accusation made during a YouTube live broadcast last month that her attempt to say hello to idol group members and their manager employed by HYBE was met with a dismissive “Just ignore her.”

K-pop powerhouse HYBE and its subsidiary Ador is in an extended feud over the disputed replacement of Ador CEO Min Hee-jin, the producer of NewJeans.

Min says she was wrongfully dismissed, while HYBE says it was a lawful procedure.

Coupang

Coupang CEO Kang Han-seung will appear before the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee over alleged preferential treatment for the firm’s private brand products.

The CEO will appear before the Environment and Labor Committee, as well as the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans, and Fisheries Committee and the Health and Welfare Committee. Whether he will be called for the National Policy Committee remains to be seen.