Fugitive Former Daewoo Chairman Kim Woo-Choong Reported to Have Visited Korea
The French daily, Libération, has reported that the fugitive former Daewoo chairman Kim Woo-Choong was in Seoul between late 2003 and early 2004, where he discussed business with the head of a French company.
The former Daewoo head stands accused of large-scale fraud. Kim fled Korea in 1999 and Daewoo went bankrupt in 2000.
The French paper quoted Robert Lohr, the chief of French railroad manufacturing group Lohr Industrie, as saying he hired Kim as an advisor to do business in Korea.
Since 2003 he met the former Daewoo head on three occasions, including once in Seoul. Lohr said he met Kim in a public place in the city, where Kim did not give the impression of being a man on the run.
He said Kim was tasked with advising the firm, which aimed to set up a partnership with a Korean company to assemble trains in the country. Thanks to Kim his firm was engaged in real negotiations with three Korean businessmen, he said.
The Justice Ministry, which handles immigration, and prosecutors investigating the Kim case were also skeptical of the reports. Justice Ministry spokesman Kil Tae-gi said there was no record of someone named Kim Woo-Choong entering Korea on a Korean or French passport.
The possibility remains that Kim entered Korea on a false passport. However, the Immigration Bureau said a man of Kim's notoriety would find it difficult to slip through immigration unrecognized, even with false documents.
The former Daewoo head stands accused of large-scale fraud. Kim fled Korea in 1999 and Daewoo went bankrupt in 2000.
The French paper quoted Robert Lohr, the chief of French railroad manufacturing group Lohr Industrie, as saying he hired Kim as an advisor to do business in Korea.
Since 2003 he met the former Daewoo head on three occasions, including once in Seoul. Lohr said he met Kim in a public place in the city, where Kim did not give the impression of being a man on the run.
He said Kim was tasked with advising the firm, which aimed to set up a partnership with a Korean company to assemble trains in the country. Thanks to Kim his firm was engaged in real negotiations with three Korean businessmen, he said.
The Justice Ministry, which handles immigration, and prosecutors investigating the Kim case were also skeptical of the reports. Justice Ministry spokesman Kil Tae-gi said there was no record of someone named Kim Woo-Choong entering Korea on a Korean or French passport.
The possibility remains that Kim entered Korea on a false passport. However, the Immigration Bureau said a man of Kim's notoriety would find it difficult to slip through immigration unrecognized, even with false documents.
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