Former Daewoo chairman Kim Woo Choong returns to Korea Tuesday as a wanted man who took fight overseas and is finally turning himself in. One might interpret it as an expression of loyalty when former Daewoo executives are organizing to welcome him. But it hard to watch when certain news outlets are actively discussing his accomplishments. No small number of people around the country feel helpless at the realization that despite long years abroad on the run he still wields a lot of influence.
We think it especially wrong to say that Kim will be punished for his "management failures." This is a man who sexed up the group's accounting records to borrow a massive amount of cash and in doing so left the country with an astronomical financial loss. The claim that the amount of money created by doctoring the group's records has been exaggerated or that he did not hide money overseas does not erase his crimes. He will be recorded as the worst financial criminal in modern Korean history because of the single fact that the more than W10 trillion in public funds that went to resolve the Daewoo situation will never be recovered. And how many people suffered immediate hardship as a result of Daewoo!
Much about Kim's crimes have been revealed already as a result of the investigation into other Daewoo executives and their respective court trials. However, it has never been clear whether there were high-ranking government officials who aiding him as he gambled with the country's economic destiny. That is what should be key to the investigation that is so late in getting restarted. The prosecution says it will also be looking into "secret funds." Investigators must not punish just a few who took money to console the country and then bring the case to an incomplete end. We hope they do not conclude their investigation hastily on the pretext that they are pressed for time.
The Hankyoreh, 14 June 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Who Helped Daewoo's Kim Commit His Crimes? |
