Court to Hold Formal Trial for LG Electronics Employees Summoned for Summary Prosecution over 'Hiring Irregularities'... Verdict Scheduled for 22nd Next Month

The Court Requests the Prosecution to Explain the Reasons for Non-Indictment of Four Individuals

LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where LG Electronics headquarters is located.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The court referred eight current and former LG Electronics executives and employees, who were subject to summary indictment for allegations of recruitment corruption, to a formal trial and held the first formal hearing on the 17th.

Im Kwang-ho, Chief Judge of Criminal Division 20 at the Seoul Central District Court, opened the first hearing for eight individuals including Park Mo, former Executive Director of an LG Group affiliate and LG Electronics recruitment officer.

Park and others are accused of obstructing the company’s recruitment process by fraudulently admitting the sons of company executives and others during the 2013?2015 LG Electronics new employee selection process (obstruction of business).

Earlier, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit transferred 12 LG Electronics officials involved in the fraudulent recruitment to the prosecution last October with a recommendation for indictment without detention on charges of obstruction of business.

However, the prosecution decided not to indict four of them and filed summary indictments with fines ranging from 5 million to 15 million KRW against the remaining eight. Summary indictment is a procedure where the prosecution requests the court to issue a summary order such as fines, penalties, or confiscation for relatively minor offenses.

The court may, on its own authority, refer a case to a formal trial if the matter is serious or if it deems it inappropriate to conclude the case with a summary order.

At the hearing, after confirming the positions of both the prosecution and the defendants, the court concluded the trial.

The defense attorney argued, "Unlike typical recruitment corruption, there was no manipulation of rankings, no fixed number of recruits, and no changes from successful to unsuccessful candidates."

Park stated, "Through this case, I realized that my efforts did not meet legal standards and social norms," adding, "I will accept judgment and take responsibility."

Meanwhile, the court requested the prosecutor to submit the reasons for non-indictment regarding the four individuals previously exempted as reference materials.

The sentencing hearing for Park and others is scheduled for the 22nd of next month.

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