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Uh-huh. [EMAIL PROTECTED] /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Indicted Hyundai Heir Plunges to Death in Seoul August 4, 2003 By JAMES BROOKE SEOUL, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 4 - Chung Mong Hun, a South Korean industrialist who was the business driver behind the South's policy of reconciliation toward North Korea, died this morning after falling from the 12th floor of the headquarters here of his family company, Hyundai Asan. The police said it was a suicide. Mr. Chung's body was found by a Hyundai janitor, who saw it crumpled behind the building, and identified by his secretary, a local police officer said. Mr. Chung, the 55-year-old heir to one of South Korea's largest fortunes, was facing a trial on charges that he secretly passed $100 million in money from the South Korean government to North Korea in the spring of 2000. The payment was said to have been a way to ensure that Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, would receive Kim Dae Jung, then president of South Korea, on a visit to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Shortly after the June 2000 inter-Korean summit meeting, the South Korean president received the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Chung, whose father, the founder of the Hyundai conglomerate, had chosen him to handle Hyundai's dealings with North Korea, was one of a number of South Korean business leaders who accompanied Kim Dae Jung on the trip to Pyongyang. He made numerous trips to North Korea since then to promote business projects with the North as a reflection of the passion of his late father, born to a peasant family in North Korea, for inter-Korean reconciliation. Earlier this year, Hyundai was implicated in arranging a total of $400 million in payments to North Korea, not only to ensure that the summit meeting would take place, but also to win contracts for a tourism enclave, an industrial park, a sports complex, dams, an airport, telecommunications infrastructure and power generation. The contracts make Hyundai the leading foreign business player in North Korea, but none of the projects show any sign of making money for several years. The summit meeting was the beginning of a process of reconciliation between the two Koreas that endures in the form of railway and commercial projects, including plans to build a vast industrial park in Kaesong, North Korea. Hyundai Engineering and Construction, which remains as one of the core companies of the Hyundai Group, was to be one of the primary contractors in the project. The younger Mr. Chung reveled in playing the role of inter-Korean conciliator and decorated his headquarters with framed photos of Hyundai officials meeting in Pyongyang with Kim Jong Il or showing the North Korean leader around the Hyundai-operated resort in North Korea. Ten days ago, Mr. Chung returned from a three-day business trip to North Korea, to announce that on Sept. 1, daily bus service would start across the demilitarized zone to his most promising project, the Mount Kumgang resort. Mr. Chung had traveled to North Korea with the welcome news that President Roh Moo Hyun, a political ally of the former South Korean president, had vetoed an opposition party's bill to extend the term of a special prosecutor into the payoff scandal. But on his return, Mr. Chung learned that government prosecutors, operating independently of the president, had placed a travel ban on Mr. Chung. The prosecutors were going to question him about his statements that, two months before the summit meeting, he ordered an underling to give $13 million to Park Jie Won, then the presidential secretary, for distribution among South Korean congressmen for use in elections. Mr. Park has denied receiving the money. Mr. Chung had been indicted on charges of having ordered the altering of records to disguise the transfer of nearly $100 million of the payments that have been confirmed as having gone to North Korea. He was one of eight former Hyundai executives and government officials indicted so far in the scandal. Mr. Chung, through his aides, said the money was sent to North Korea as payment for business dealings. Mr. Chung reportedly left several notes and a will. Mr. Chung was forced to give up the title of Hyundai Group chairman when several of his companies encountered severe financial difficulties as a result of business dealings in North Korea. He retained the title of chairman of Hyundai Asan, the company responsible for operating tours to the Mount Kumgang resort region in southeastern North Korea. Mr. Chung was the fifth son of Chung Ju Yung, who divided his business group among his sons. Mr. Chung, who held a master's degree in business from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, N.J., was selected by his father to run Hyundai Electronics after it was founded in 1983. He had to give up his stake in Hyundai Electronics, however, when the company suffered severe financial difficulties during the 1997-98 economic crisis, fell into the hands of creditor banks and changed its name to Hynix Semiconductor. Mr. Chung, shy, retiring and reluctant to grant interviews, was jailed for several months in 1992 while on trial for his role in collecting funds illegally for his father, who ran unsuccessfully for president of South Korea that year. Chung Mong Hun was released from prison after a lengthy trial and was ordered to pay a huge fine. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/international/asia/04SEOU.html?ex=1060987398&ei=1&en=28e5f5e786f90051 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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