Row over money at publisher raises eyebrows
By Yun Suh-young
Park Eun-joo
Current and former CEOs of Gimmyoung Publishers were found Monday to have engaged in a 30.5 billion won ($26.2 million) legal dispute, shocking consumers who feel betrayed by one of the nation’s most famous publishers.
Former CEO Park Eun-joo filed a lawsuit against the publishing firm’s sitting President Kim Kang-yoo, accusing Kim of embezzlement, breach of trust and fraud.
Gimmyoung is Korea’s leading publishing company and has produced numerous bestsellers such as “The World is Wide and Many Things to Do” by Kim Woo-jung, founder of Daewoo Group; “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey; and “Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?” by Michael J. Sandel.
On Thursday, Park filed the suit against Kim with the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, court officials said.
In the complaint, Park wrote, "Kim inflicted financial loss on the company worth 3.5 billion won, in such ways as pressuring me to financially support his brother's company.
"He also embezzled 3.6 billion won from the company since 2007 as he regularly received a paycheck and used corporate cards, although he did not contribute anything to the company before he was inaugurated as president in June."
Park ran the company for 25 years as president until she abruptly resigned from the position in May of last year.
The current president Kim, who is known to have been her mentor, had entrusted her with the company in 1989, leaving all his shares and the president's position.
Under Park's management, the company's sales increased by close to five times in two decades from 1990.
President Kim reportedly left the position to practice asceticism in the mountains. Park is also known to have practiced asceticism for 20 years living in a temple that Kim owns.
The relationship between the two was not problematic until, according to Park, Kim started interfering in the company's financial matters in 2007.
Kim, however, denies the allegations saying that Park's complaint is to cover up her own wrongdoings.
Kim said he "cannot believe Park filed a suit." Kim and other executives claim Park left the company while she was being audited in March of last year for causing financial losses. "She tried to buy time after she admitted her own wrongdoings and agreed to figure out a solution," they said.
According to the current staff at Gimmyoung Publishers, Park allegedly embezzled 20 billion won in unorthodox ways.
Park refutes the accusation.
"When I refused to provide money for his brother, Kim fired me and some other staff. He forced me to give up 25 billion won worth of my property," she told the Yonhap News Agency.
It is yet to be determined which side is telling the truth, but the trust the company enjoyed among consumers seems to have been broken.
On social networking services, disappointed netizens voiced their opinions on the matter.
"What happened to a publishing company that has focused its role in producing good books?" said a blogger with the ID: aba**.
"It's disappointing that something like this would happen at a company that publishes books that are food for the mind. I wish publishers would be more clean and transparent," said a netizen with the ID: kmk****.