[Editorial] Kim Woo Choong: 'Sins' Before 'Accomplishments'

Former Daewoo chairman Kim Woo Choong is about to return to Korea after having taken flight overseas in the wake of his conglomerate's downfall. There have been rumors of his return before, but something about this time seems different. He has told his aides that he will return without condition. There is no knowing precisely what his motives are, but it is a good choice on his part that he has decided to return and face legal judgment.

What must be made clear is that he is not a "political exile." He doctored Daewoo's account books to the tune of W41 trillion and got a W9 trillion loan from a financial institution, and is accused also of having taken W20 trillion out of the country. The Supreme Court has already found other Daewoo executives guilty of the same charges. Kim must be punished to a degree appropriate for the chief executive officer of those crimes.

His former aides are already trying to dilute the seriousness of his crimes, already saying that his accomplishments must be judged along with his sins. Of course as the head of one of the country's top four jaebeols, Kim probably contributed something to the Korean economy. But now is not the time to bring up the empty accomplishments of the past. Kim's illegal activities cost the country trillions in public funds infused into the financial institution. He wronged the people with a massive financial burden that they will have to pay back for a long time to come. Clearing up his responsibility in that has to be the priority. It would be worth remembering the rage of the Daewoo workers who formed an "arrest team" and went looking for him overseas.

Very often the experience has been that businessmen commit serious crimes and only to receive light punishments. Already there are predictions that Kim will return, receive only formal punishment, and then be let free. That must not be allowed to happen. That will only leave the people with an even greater sense of helplessness. The suspicions regarding the steps up to his escape to outside the country must also be thoroughly revealed.

The Hankyoreh, 4 June 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]