Prosecutors Indict Park Young-woo, Daewoo Winia Chairman, on Charges of Withholding 39.8 Billion Won in Wages and Other Payments

Violation of the Labor Standards Act and the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act
CEO and Secretary General Also Prosecuted Together

Park Young-woo, chairman of Daeyu Winia Group, who is accused of withholding wages and severance pay amounting to approximately 39.8 billion KRW, was indicted while in custody on the 7th.

Chairman Park Young-woo of Daewoo Winia Photo by Yonhap News

The Criminal Division 1 of Seongnam Branch, Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Heo Hoon) announced that on the same day, Chairman Park was indicted in custody on charges including violation of the Labor Standards Act, violation of the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits, and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Additionally, Kim Hyuk-pyo, CEO of Winia, who participated in the wage withholding crime, was indicted without detention, and Park Hyun-chul, CEO of Winia Electronics, and Ahn Byung-duk, former CEO of Winia Electronics, who are already on trial for wage withholding and other charges, were also additionally indicted. The prosecution also indicted A, the head of the secretariat at Daeyu Winia, without detention on charges of embezzling company funds in collusion with Chairman Park.

Chairman Park is accused of conspiring with CEO Kim and others to withhold wages and severance pay totaling 39.8 billion KRW from 738 employees between October 2020 and December 2023. The prosecution viewed Chairman Park as the principal offender of wage withholding, effectively controlling and operating Winia and Winia Electronics by receiving work reports on major management matters including the wage withholding situation from affiliate executives and employees and issuing instructions, and detained him last month.

Chairman Park, CEO Kim, and Secretariat Chief A are also accused of transferring 1 billion KRW of company funds held in custody without going through necessary procedures such as a board resolution about 30 minutes before filing for rehabilitation proceedings for Winia on October 4 last year, into Chairman Park’s personal account.

The prosecution believes that Chairman Park expanded the scale of wage withholding by using company funds for non-urgent purposes, such as spending 1.8 billion KRW from Winia’s funds on interior construction costs for a chairman-exclusive space within the company between August and October 2022, and paying a deposit of 32 billion KRW for acquiring another company using funds from Winia Electronics and others in December 2021.

A prosecution official explained, "Chairman Park prioritized protecting personal assets over damage recovery, using 11 billion KRW out of 22.5 billion KRW from the sale of a group-owned golf course last November to repay personal bank debts first," adding, "Although there appeared to have been sufficient opportunities for repayment, no actual compensation for the employees’ damages has been made."

Meanwhile, the prosecution plans to continue investigating allegations that Chairman Park committed perjury by stating at last year’s National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee audit that he would resolve the wage withholding issue by selling the golf course, but despite securing the funds, did not pay the withheld wages.

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