Hyundai boss receives pardon from South Korean president
In South Korea, economics trumps justice. Chung Mong-koo, the head of Hyundai who recently received a suspended sentence for embezzling and bribes has -- along with 341,000 other businessmen, bureaucrats, and politicians -- been given a full pardon.
President Lee Myung-bak, who said he was "personally against" the decision, decided to issue the pardons anyway. Mong-koo wasn't even in jail, but apparently the convicted and jailed businessmen were "having problems doing business overseas." Go figure.
So on Liberation Day, in hopes that "businessmen would take the lead in reviving the economy by creating jobs through active investment and exploring markets abroad," the bad guys got gifts even better than walking papers. In South Korea, crime does pay... if you have good business sense.
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Level 8:03PM (8/12/2008)
I have yet to see an industry that doesn't require bribes...so to me its not a big deal...
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Brandon 11:25PM (8/12/2008)
Wrong vocabulary.
It's called bribery in Korea, but in America, it's called lobbying.
ASEVENSEE4 8:08PM (8/12/2008)
What did you expect? Them to let Hyundai go un-managed?
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why not the LS2LS7? 8:52PM (8/12/2008)
Not at all surprised. The government is very happy with how the chaebol brought South Korea to be a global economic force. They surely knew what was going on and approved.
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Ford Wannup 9:36PM (8/12/2008)
Typical of the Korean government. I never understand why we continue to harp on the Japanese, NAFTA, even the EU, etc. etc., yet the Korean govt has been building their economy, automotive mfg infrastructure, exporting them abroad while maintaining competitive barriers into their domestic auto market.
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Brian W 9:54PM (8/12/2008)
Isn't free trade great!
Fiorano 9:46PM (8/12/2008)
Hyundai is a ridiculus farce of a technology company and the global success aside this is living proof of the gross lack of inherent quality of the organization, product and business sense- to be shady and manipulative is one thing to be so illegal and amoral and get a pardon is unforgivable...
I owuld like Hyundai/Kia/Mobis group to leave the North American market for good.
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wef 4:59PM (8/13/2008)
yeah like gm and ford have never done anything "amoral"..or even you.
eskimou 10:40PM (8/12/2008)
It should be noted that President Lee Myung-bak was a former chairman of Hyundai Group as well. Not surprising he gave a pardon, he's the very Bush-esque type politician in Korea with many very close ties to big business.
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Ben 10:47PM (8/12/2008)
Well, I feel bad for South Korea. Ripped apart in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis of 1997, which was not its fault according to Joseph Stiglitz, who won the nobel in economics 3 years later. The IMF 'restructuring' in the wake of that crisis amounted to a firesale of most of its major companies that the Koreans had worked so hard to build in the aftermath of the Korean war. Hyundai was one of the few major firms left untouched, while Daewoo, of course, became part of GM, who bought it for a fraction of its value just months before. I am sure Hyundai did some untoward things in the aftermath of the crisis, but who are the real crooks? The currency speculators who launched the crisis to begin with in order to make a quick buck and force the sale of Korea's firms, hobbling the country for years afterward. And the IMF, whose policies have been harshly criticized by Stiglitz.
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Rick 11:23PM (8/12/2008)
Well, you know what they say about power (and money) and corruption...
MikeW 12:16AM (8/13/2008)
Steal a dollar, go to jail.
Steal a million, get award.
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GhostDoggy 7:35AM (8/13/2008)
Well, that just tarnishes the SK government's image. I would have gone all China over him and stood him up against a wall and shot him at the company headquarters.
Baddabing baddabang.
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iSpec 7:53AM (8/13/2008)
Nobody on this planet cares. Only his competitors in Korea cared if he went to jail. The pardon also proves that the rich and powerful receive leniency as they're needed to keep economic machines running.
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Mino 9:07AM (8/13/2008)
What competitors? lol...With the cost of cars in korea not to mention just the cost of even obtaining your license. What car manufacturer holds a flame to Hyundai... GM daewoo? Renault Samsung? Ssangyong?
When such a powerful CEO is punished for what we call lobbying who didn't see this pardon coming? or at least a slightly more sever slap on the wrist. Hell it's like he was just grounded and sent to his room without dessert.
Iridium 10:58AM (8/13/2008)
Big Asian companies are all dirtier than anything on earth. Well big companies in the US are just as dirty.
Really all big business is anymore is brides, stock scams, and money laundering.
CEOs get away with embezzlement, cheating on taxes by millions. Meanwhile a normal person misses a little bit of interest from a savings account and the IRS is all over them.
It's about time we line up every CEO outside a building and get a new massacre on the callendar. These people are not good at running business, they are good at running scams. The behind the door hiring of a new exectutive must be, How well are you at hiding losses as profit? How good are you at filtering money through dummy corporations to launder money for our investment partners? We know a few guys in Dubai that say they will cut us in for 20% if we can figure out a way to get thier agaenda passed through our board, can you do that?
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tuna 1:21PM (8/13/2008)
Ah the sweet smell of democracy and free-market.
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thecheddar 6:08PM (8/13/2008)
We closed up our Korean operation and moved our business elsewhere due to corruption there. We couldn't get anything done without someone demanding a bribe. This sends a clear signal to the world that laws aren't respected and Korea is NOT where you want to do business.
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Level 12:18AM (8/14/2008)
What about bill Clinton's Pardons?
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pardonchartlst.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardons_controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
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