By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Police announced Monday that it will seek an arrest warrant to detain Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn on suspicion of mobilizing gangsters to kidnap and assault six people involved in a brawl with his son in March.
But the arrest warrant will be issued after police complete the interrogation of Kim's second son, Dong-won, 22, who returned from Beijing Monday evening.
Kim's son, who arrived at Incheon International Airport at about 7:30 p.m., voluntarily showed up for police questioning about "the revenge violence" at 11:04 p.m.
"I am very sorry for causing trouble inflicting my father as well as the nation," he said, in a response to the flurry of questions on the alleged violence during a brief photo session for media upon his arrival at the airport.
Asked whether he saw his father beating the bar employees and whether his father went to the mountain where collective violence took place, he said in brief, "I don't know."
"Actually I am a victim of the incident," he also replied, when asked what he thought about those beaten.
He went on a field trip to China last Wednesday with other students of Asian history from Seoul National University, where he is studying as an exchange student. He attends Yale University.
Police are making efforts to find out the whereabouts of the son's friend who is the only eyewitness of the violence on three separate places.
Police also requested a seizure and search warrant for Hanwha Group head office and home of chairman Kim to find weapons used in violence and evidence of Kim's involvement in the assault.
Meanwhile, the chairman would face up to five years in prison or a maximum fine of 15 million won ($16,000) if convicted of the charges against him.
Police said the 55-year-old tycoon denied most of the allegations Sunday during 11 hours of interrogation.
His bodyguards are alleged to have kidnapped the victims to a warehouse at the foot of Mt. Cheonggye and to have attacked them. He had assaulted some of them himself, according to police. But all six victims say they were hit by Kim and his bodyguards.
The interrogation was videotaped to prevent Kim from making counter claims in court later.
``According to the victims, Kim hit their backs with steel pipes, also kicking their faces and other body-parts, near the construction warehouse in Mt. Cheonggye,'' a police spokesman said, adding that they have found an eyewitness of the violence near the warehouse.
``We will include the medical treatment records of two of the sufferers in our arrant request,'' he said.
The police are looking at close-circuit television (CCTV) footage and mobile-phone records as evidence.
``One of the victims said that he used his mobile phone as he was taken by Kim's bodyguards to Mt. Cheonggye. We are tracing phone records to obtain location-base information of Kim's bodyguards and the victims to verify their whereabouts on the afternoon of March 8,'' said the spokesman.
``Recovering the CCTV footage is a harder job as the cameras were poorly managed and not operating properly at that time,'' he said.
According to police, Kim allegedly ordered his bodyguards to attack at least six employees of a bar in Bukchang-dong, central Seoul, in the early hours of March 8, after his second-son fought with one of them at another bar in Cheongdam-dong in southern Seoul.
The junior Kim, a Yale University student, was reportedly pushed down a staircase and suffered a cut to his forehead that needed 13 stitches.
Later on the night of the same day, Kim took his bodyguards together with his son to the Bukchang-dong bar in central Seoul, looking for the man suspected of hitting his son. Forcing the early closure of the shop, Kim told his son to point out his attacker and assault him ``until your anger is appeased.''
Under Korean law, Kim could face up to three years in prison if he was directly involved in the confining and beating the victims at the warehouse or the Bukchang-dong bar.
Hanwha Group has more than 20 subsidiaries with 15,000 employees. Kim holds 22 percent of the group's stakes.
The case first came to light earlier this month after a friend of one of the victims posted an article about the incident on an Internet portal site.