Seoul - The chairman of Hyundai Motor Co has been cleaning
rooms and feeding and bathing abandoned babies at a Catholic welfare
centre as penance for his embezzlement conviction.
'I feel like being young again with babies,' Chung Mong Koo said
while holding a 1-year-old in his arms. 'I have 11 grandchildren, and
I would like to be babysitting these babies as if they were my own
grandchildren.'
A court sentenced Chung, 71, in February to three years in prison
for setting up 90 billion won (87 million US dollars) in slush funds
to bribe officials.
Later, however, an appeals court reduced his prison term to 300
hours of community service involving physical labor, saying his
imprisonment would have a negative impact on the country's largest
carmaker, which accounts for about 5 per cent of the country's gross
domestic product.
The ruling enables Chung to run Hyundai's daily business. After
the tycoon is briefed on the firm's business in the mornings, he
rides to the welfare centre in Eumseong County in North Chungcheong
province every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to take care of babies
who are awaiting adoption.
While he carries out his sentence, he is also orchestrating
Hyundai's drive into India and the United States.
Hyundai Motor America has launched an 80-million-US-dollar
marketing campaign to propel its first luxury car, Genesis, into the
US market while in India, Hyundai recently unseated domestic
automaker Tata Motors Ltd as the country's second-largest car seller.
Reaction toward the court decision to change Chung's sentence from
prison to community service has been mixed.
Some people welcomed it. 'When the business tycoon is spending a
day with the abandoned babies, he may become sympathetic to those who
do not have much,' said a student who responded to an online poll
conducted by YTN cable television.
Other people said it was unfair. 'I would be willing to spend 10
years in prison only if I could get several billion won,' another YTN
respondent said. 'Chung is spending only 300 hours for service to pay
for the 90 billion won of illegal money? That makes me sad.'
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