hankyoreh

In the upper picture

a second-generation Chaebol heir says

By Son Jun-hyun, Senior Staff Writer

Police began an investigation Monday following allegations that former M&M President Chey Chul-won, 41, a second generation member of the “SK Cheys,” the family of South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate SK Group, paid “blood money” to the head of a Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Federation branch after striking him repeatedly with a baseball bat. The two had been in conflict over the issue of the branch head’s continued employment following a merger. In response to the claims, some in the labor sector called for Chey’s arrest, while more than 20 thousand people have participated in a signature campaign at the “Agora” section of the Daum portal site demanding Chey’s arrest and calling the assault “gangster-like behavior from a second-generation conglomerate family member.”

The victim of the alleged assault, a 52-year-old identified by the surname “Yu,” is the head of the tank truck branch of the Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Federation’s Ulsan chapter. At a press conference Monday, Yu said that Chey struck him around ten times with a baseball bat on Nov. 18 at the M&M offices in Seoul’s Yongsan District.

“I went to the office because of a tank truck vehicle sale issue, and, with seven to eight M&M executives watching, Chey hit me with an aluminum bat, kicked and punched me, and then gave me 20 million Won ($17,376), which he said was ‘blood money,’” Yu said.

Yu said that Chey initially hit him five or six times, saying that he would give one million Won per blow. When Yu cried for help, Chey began striking him again and said he would give three million Won per blow, Yu claimed.

It was confirmed that none of the executives in attendance at the time of the attack made any attempt to stop it.

“With labor-management issues, they normally send one of the underlings to handle things,” Yu said. “It was really chilling, a second-generation conglomerate family president hitting someone with a baseball bat, his fists, and his feet, with a disregard for any legal procedure.”

In January 2010, Yu held a one-person vehicle protest when M&M refused to keep him on after acquiring the company where he worked as a tank truck driver. Yu also demanded a meeting with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutor‘s Office began an investigation Monday, with plans to summon Yu and the other parties involved for individual questioning.

Attorney Kim Chil-jun, who is representing Yu, announced plans to file a complaint against Chey with the prosecutor’s office Tuesday on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts, etc. “While we see how the criminal case proceeds, we also plan to file a civil suit,” Kim said.

Meanwhile, the Korea Public Transportation Union preparatory committee issued an emergency statement Monday in which they urged the “immediate arrest and investigation of all parties involved, including Chey and the company executives who abetted the assault.”

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