"All In on Hwacheondaeyu Instead of Stocks and Coins"… Kwak Sang-do's Son Receives '5 Billion Won Severance Pay'… Common People Sigh

Gwak Sang-do's Son Claims "Worked Hard at Hwacheon Daeyu Instead of Stocks or Coins"
"How Can Someone Get 5 Billion Won for Working?" Citizens' Anger Continues
Expert Says "No Boss Pays 5 Billion Won for Back Office... Unusual"

Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, which secured massive dividends and sparked controversy over preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development project in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.
/Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Joo-hee] As it was revealed that Kwak Byung-chae (31), son of independent lawmaker Kwak Sang-do (formerly of the People Power Party), received 5 billion KRW in severance pay and other benefits from Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), which is under suspicion of preferential treatment in the Daejang-dong development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, voices of citizens expressing a sense of deprivation continue to rise.

In particular, regarding Kwak’s statement on the 26th, saying that "(the severance pay is) the reward for working hard despite health issues" and "I did what I was told from above and gave it my all," citizens expressed anger, saying, "What company gives 5 billion KRW just for working hard?" and insisted that such a thing could not happen without preferential treatment.

According to reports, Kwak, who worked at Hwacheon Daeyu for about six years, reportedly received 5 billion KRW as severance pay. Kwak joined Hwacheon Daeyu in June 2015 as an assistant manager and worked in the compensation team, resigning in March of this year. Hwacheon Daeyu was his first workplace.

On the same day, Kwak revealed through Kwak Sang-do’s Facebook that he received a monthly salary ranging from 2.33 million to 3.83 million KRW while working at Hwacheon Daeyu. For this level of monthly salary, the typical severance pay would be about 25 million KRW.

Kwak also explained the process of receiving the large severance pay, stating that as the company’s profits became visible, a performance bonus contract including severance pay of 500 million KRW was signed in June 2020, and before resigning in March, the performance bonus contract was changed to pay 5 billion KRW. Kwak said he received about 2.8 billion KRW after withholding tax.

He claimed, "This is due to the company generating enormous profits," and added, "As an employee, I did my best in the tasks assigned to me to enable such profits." He also said, "I know many people don’t even have such opportunities, but I thought that putting all my efforts into this company rather than stocks or coins would pay off, so I bet everything."

Hwacheon Daeyu also stated that there is no problem with the payment of the 5 billion KRW severance pay. Hwacheon Daeyu said, "Since the employee resigned, it was natural to pay severance pay, and it was paid legally through internal procedures."

Former People Power Party member Kwak Sang-do, who voluntarily left the party and is now an independent lawmaker./Photo by Yonhap News

As this fact became known, numerous citizens expressed feelings of deprivation online. Comments on related articles included remarks such as, "A regular employee worked for six years and received 5 billion KRW in severance pay? That’s absurd," "If a company pays severance like this, I’d sell my soul to work there," and "Can I get such severance pay if I were a lawmaker’s child?"?all mixed with self-deprecating lamentations.

Citizens showed even more anger toward Kwak’s statement that he "worked hard and went all-in on Hwacheon Daeyu instead of stocks or coins." One netizen said, "Hearing that he made money by going all-in on Hwacheon Daeyu instead of stocks or coins makes me sigh," adding, "Ordinary people can never even touch that kind of money in their lifetime whether they invest in coins or stocks or not. There won’t be a single person who thinks receiving 5 billion KRW was justified."

Criticism toward lawmaker Kwak also continued from the opposition camp. Former lawmaker and People Power Party presidential candidate Yoo Seung-min wrote on Facebook, "We must be clean and confident ourselves to punish the illegal and corrupt acts of the Moon Jae-in administration and Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung. I demand the party leadership to make a swift decision."

Lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo also urged the party leadership, saying, "With the spirit of 'eupchammasok' (泣斬馬謖, meaning making a painful but necessary decision), take decisive action regarding the involvement of our party member’s family." Amid mounting criticism, Kwak resigned from the People Power Party voluntarily on the same day.

Meanwhile, Kim Man-bae, the largest shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, appeared at the Yongsan Police Station in Seoul on the 27th and stated that Kwak’s severance pay increased due to industrial accident compensation and that there was no illegal aspect. He said, "(Kwak) suffered an industrial accident. Since he does not respond, it is a privacy matter, so it is difficult for me to comment."

Experts pointed out that the amount of severance pay given to Kwak is an unusual sum even within the related industry. Lawyer Kim Yoon-woo said in an interview on MBC Radio’s 'Kim Jong-bae’s Focus' on the 27th, "The work Kwak was in charge of at Hwacheon Daeyu was back office, not front office that brings in money, and the common reaction in the industry was that no boss would pay that much," adding, "Incentives are usually contracted in advance, but Kwak’s case was seen not as a typical incentive but as a dividend from rapidly increased profits."

Lawyer Kim also expressed skepticism about Kim’s claim that the severance pay increased due to industrial accident compensation, saying, "It is hard to accept. Even in companies like Samsung Electronics, industrial accident processing is possible, and even if consolation money is given, they do not pay 5 billion KRW."

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