Autoblog

The South Korean government has decided not to pursue an indictment against Chung Eui Sun, president of Kia Motors. The move not to prosecute apparently stemmed from the fact that his father, Chung Mong Koo (Hyundai Motor chairman) was the one with final authority, and he is being indicted in the bribery scandal.

A spokesman from the prosecutor's office indicates that Chung Mong Koo has confessed to some of the charges, though more specifics were not disclosed.

[Sources: The Standard; Hankooki]

Hyundai Motor Co. chair Chung Mong-koo is looking to post bail. The Korean auto executive, currently incarcerated on embezzlement charges, appealed to the Seoul District Court on Friday to release him on bond.

Interestingly, a petition has been circulating among the Korean auto industry for the release of Chung Mong-koo's son, Chung Enui-Sun, who has also been jailed. The latter is  head of sister-company Kia, and supporters of the petition are pleading for his temporary release, out of fear that a prolonged incarceration will greatly damage the country's auto industry.

Word on Chung Mong-koo's bail status is expected to take around a week.

[Sources: The Associated Press via BayNews9; Korea Herald]

An ex-government official in the growing Hyundai scandal was found dead Sunday of an apparent suicide. Park Seok-an, under suspicion for bribery in the Korean automaker corruption case was found dead in a lake-he had been slated to appear in the prosecutor's office the same morning, having already been questioned five times on suspicion of taking bribes in exchange for business favors while he was a director-general at a city hall housing division.

A combination will/suicide note alluding to the investigation was found at his home in Seoul.

[Sources: The Korea Herald; Wikimedia.org]