Former Daeyu WINIA Group Chairman Park Young-woo was sentenced to prison. Park had earlier been sentenced to four years in prison and is on appeal for allegedly failing to pay hundreds of billions of won in workers' wages and severance. This time, Park received a prison sentence for additional charges of unpaid wages.
According to legal sources on the 16th, Judge Kang Myeon-gu of Criminal Division 11, Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court, sentenced the former chairman Park to six months in prison on charges of violating the Labor Standards Act and the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits.
The court also sentenced WINIA CEO Kim Hyuk-pyo to three years in prison, suspended for four years; WINIA Electronics CEO Park Hyun-cheol to one year in prison, suspended for two years; former WINIA Electronics CEO Ahn Byung-deok to four months in prison, suspended for one year; and former WINIA MF CEO Wi Dae-seong to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, for participating in the wage arrears offenses.
Kim was also fined 10 million won in addition to the prison term.
The court said, "Defendant Park Young-woo, as the group chairman, is considered most responsible for the failure to pay wages as affiliates' finances deteriorated, and the other defendants also bear responsibility for failing to prevent this situation while serving as each company's CEO."
The court added, "However, it appears the defendants did not act with intent from the beginning and came to commit the offenses as affiliates' finances worsened," and "In some companies' cases, unpaid wages and severance may be partially repaid through asset sales."
While sentencing the former chairman Park to prison, the court did not take Park into custody in court, citing reasons including no flight risk.
The former chairman Park is accused of withholding 1.5 billion won in wages and severance from about 70 workers. The other former and current CEOs of affiliates are accused of withholding 14 billion won, 900 million won, 40 million won, and 2.5 billion won, respectively.
Separately, the former chairman Park is accused of conspiring with former and current affiliate CEOs from 2020 to 2023 to withhold about 47 billion won in wages and severance from about 800 workers at WINIA Electronics and WINIA. For this, Park was sentenced to four years in prison at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court in Feb. last year and is on appeal.
As Park's detention period was nearing expiration, the court granted Park's bail application, and Park has been tried without detention since September last year.
Both the defendants and prosecutors appealed the first-instance ruling.