Former Daewoo Founder's Pending Return Creates Mixed Reactions

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Former Daewoo chairman's return home creates divisions

The return of former Daewoo Group chairman, Kim Woo-Choong, has spawned divisions among Koreans on how he should pay for accounting irregularities that led to his conglomerate's collapse.

While former Daewoo executives, as staunch supporters, are taking action to seek a fair trial, victims from the collapse of the conglomerate in 1999 want to make counter claims.

Kim has been in hiding overseas since Daewoo went bankrupt.

recently, Mr. Kim has also been on the Interpol watch list for accounting fraud and embezzling funds and diverting them overseas. His return means he faces possible criminal charges.

Last week, Chung Joo-ho, the president of "Daewoo men," the club for ex-Daewoo executives, through the club's Web site began shoring up support asking members to actively voice their opinion of Kim's return and cooperate to ensure the merits and demerits of Daewoo are fairly judged.

On the other end, victims of the now-defunct Daewoo Group have formed the Daewoo Victims Committee.

It has announced that it is holding an emergency meeting this Friday. It aims to gather like-minded individuals to exchange views and draw up a joint statement.


In a Korea Herald article, one former Daewoo executive asserted that Kim's contribution to the country's economy and globalization should be acknowledged. He believes that a renewal of his reputation through a positive Daewoo image would give him a renewal of existence, rather than a name-clearing.