The prosecution decided to bring the case of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group chairman Chung Mong-koo to the Supreme Court Friday in defiance of an appeal court’s suspension of Chung’s three year jail term. The prosecution is poised to raise the issue of the court’s ordering of a donation of 840 billion won and compulsory community service involving lecturing on observing the law and writing columns for newspapers and magazines. It claims such penalties are not proper. For instance, a prosecution official said others _ not Chung himself _ would write the articles.
The appeals court, in making the sentencing, admitted there has been criticism over reducing the jail term for tycoons of chaebol, the Korean family owned conglomerates. It also worried that imprisoning Chung would lead to endangering the national economy in view of Hyundai-Kia group’s influence on it. The group has more than 110,000 employees, accounting for 11 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 10.7 percent of the total exports.
But the court’s decision is contrary to the legal spirit and social consensus toward harsh punishment for anti-social economic crimes like embezzlement and the establishment of slush funds.
The court has frequently been the target of criticism for its benevolent ruling in connection with crimes by chaebol. According to research by Solidarity for Economic Reform, a civic body, 149 business people have been charged with embezzlement or breach of trust since 2000. It said 84 percent of them were given suspended jail terms. In particular, more than half of business leaders who got prison terms were released after appealing their cases, a fact which indicates favoritism towards them.
Repeated favorable treatment for business people will undermine legal and economic justice. It will fan the social gap between the haves and have-nots. Chung needs to contribute the money to society without fail. And he must focus on raising the financial transparency in the company, the world’s sixth largest carmaker and stop attempts to transfer his wealth to his offspring via illegal methods. These are needed to strengthen the company’s competitiveness in international markets.
Fresh from the agreement between labor and management on a wage hike, the company needs to gird up its loins to leap forward. In doing so, combined efforts by the two sides are equally important. Chung holds the key to determine the fate of the company. In the process, he needs to obtain trust from the unionized workers through managerial transparency and fairness.