Supreme Court Confirms Prison Sentence for Ryu Si-young, Yuseong Enterprise Chairman, for Using Company Funds on 'Labor Consulting and Lawyer' Fees

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[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Ryu Si-young, chairman of Yuseong Enterprise, who was indicted for spending company funds on consulting fees to obstruct union activities and personal lawyer fees, has been sentenced to prison by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) on the 14th upheld the lower court's ruling sentencing Chairman Ryu, indicted for violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust) and embezzlement in the course of business, to 1 year and 4 months in prison and a fine of 5 million won.

The court also upheld the lower court's rulings sentencing former Yuseong Enterprise Vice President Lee and former Executive Director Choi, who were indicted for the same charges, to 1 year in prison with 2 years probation and a fine of 3 million won, and 10 months in prison with 2 years probation, respectively. Both former Vice President Lee and former Executive Director Choi were also ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.

The court stated, "The claim that the lower court's judgment violated the principle of prohibition of double jeopardy and the law regarding abuse of prosecution rights is not a valid ground for appeal, as the defendants did not raise these issues as reasons for appeal nor did the lower court consider them ex officio, but only raised them for the first time in the grounds for appeal."

It further explained, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment that the defendants embezzled Yuseong Enterprise's funds by paying lawyer fees for their personal criminal cases with company money."

Ryu, who served as CEO of Yuseong Enterprise, an automobile parts manufacturer, from March 1999 to August 2018, along with former Vice President Lee and former Executive Director Choi, was indicted for spending a total of over 1.3 billion won in labor consulting fees from company funds 24 times between May 2011 and December 2012.

They were investigated to have paid consulting fees to Changjo Consulting, a labor law firm known for union neutralization, with the intent to weaken the union's organizational power at Yuseong Enterprise and received advice from them.

Additionally, Chairman Ryu and former Executive Director Choi were charged with having the company pay their lawyer fees during their criminal trials related to unfair labor practices.

Previously, the appellate court acquitted the defendants of some lawyer fee expenditures related to embezzlement charges involving the company as a party, which were recognized in the first trial, thereby reducing the sentences of the three individuals.

The labor-management conflict at Yuseong Enterprise began nine years ago in 2011 when the 'two-shift continuous weekday system' agreed upon by both sides was not properly implemented.

The union held a strike vote and went on strike on May 18 of the same year, while the company responded by immediately implementing a workplace closure and collectively dismissing union members.

Earlier, in December 2017, regarding charges of violating the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, Chairman Ryu was sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison and fined 1 million won, former Vice President Lee received 8 months in prison with 2 years probation, and former Executive Director Choi was sentenced to 6 months in prison with 2 years probation and fined 1 million won, all of which were finalized.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.