IT group CEO found dead during investigation into alleged abuse

Marker Group CEO Song Myeong-bin was found dead on Wednesday morning, the day he was scheduled to undergo a court review over issuance of an arrest warrant for his alleged abuse of an employee. / Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

Marker Group CEO Song Myeong-bin was found dead Wednesday morning, the day he was scheduled to undergo a court review over the issuance of an arrest warrant for his alleged abuse of an employee.

According to the police, a neighbor found his body at his apartment complex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, at 4:40 a.m. He was already dead when first responders arrived.

He was scheduled to attend a Seoul Southern District Court session in the morning where the court was to decide whether to issue a warrant for his arrest.

He was accused of habitual assault, blackmail and violation of the Labor Standards Act, after an employee of his company, surnamed Yang, filed a complaint with the police last November accusing Song of habitually assaulting him with an iron pipe, shoehorn and wooden bar over a period of three years. A video of Song beating him was made public a month later and went viral online.

Song's name became well-known in 2015 after he introduced the “right to be forgotten” on the internet.