Daewoo Group

The national best seller is written by the founder of one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, an unabashed workaholic who says he shaves and eats breakfast in his car to save time. Kim Woo-choong heads Daewoo Group, maker of products ranging from Leading Edge computers to Pontiac LeMans exports to the U.S. market. Kim says he wrote the book to tell young people how to find inspiration and direction in life. Or as the suggested title for the English version suggests, "Work!!!"

An appeals court Friday sentenced the founder and former chairman of collapsed South Korean conglomerate Daewoo to 8 1/2 years in prison on charges including embezzlement and accounting fraud. The Seoul High Court said it also ordered Kim Woo Choong to forfeit 18 trillion won ($19 billion) and pay a fine of 10 million won. The sentence was less severe than a lower-court ruling in May, when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was ordered to forfeit more than 21 trillion won.

Daewoo, GM to End Partnership: General Motors Corp. is ending its partnership with South Korea's Daewoo Group after a yearlong dispute over management and sales. The U.S. auto maker and Daewoo Group formed Daewoo Motor Corp. in 1978, each owning 50% of it. Daewoo Motor builds the Pontiac LeMans subcompact, the only car it sells in the United States. Only 17,392 LeMans had been sold 17,392 through Sept. 10, down 44.3% from last year's 31,212.

The South Korean industrialist who fled the country as his Daewoo Group tumbled into one of the world's largest bankruptcies returned home today, ending nearly six years on the run. The return and immediate arrest of Kim Woo Choong, one of Asia's most notorious fugitives, immediately stirred intense debate on how to deal with the man who represented South Korea's miraculous economic rise as well as its colossal setbacks from crony capitalism.

The Thousand Oaks-based maker of personal computers, printers and related products said it received more than $20 million from Daewoo Group, a Korean conglomerate that manufactures some of Corona's equipment. Corona, which has long sought new financing, did not disclose how much of a stake it sold to Daewoo. Corona also said it will change its name in January to Cordata to help overcome its image as an IBM "PC clone" manufacturer.

South Korea's financial regulator said today that Daewoo Group and foreign creditors have reached a debt restructuring agreement. Daewoo Group's local creditors agreed to buy the company's debt to foreign banks in a move aimed at saving the South Korean conglomerate from bankruptcy. "Foreign creditors agreed to accept 39% to 40% of collection rate of their debts to four Daewoo affiliates," said a spokeswoman at the Financial Supervisory Commission.

South Korean state prosecutors probing former President Roh Tae Woo's slush fund indicted Daewoo Group's chairman and a former aide to Roh on charges of bribery, state television said. Daewoo Chairman Kim Woo Choong was charged with giving $64,680 to Kim Chong Hwi, Roh's former chief secretary for security and foreign affairs, in exchange for favors in connection with the government's arms buildup. Kim Chong Hwi was charged with receiving a total of $168,180 in 1992 from Daewoo and a U.S.

South Korea on Sunday announced a list of steps to restore lost confidence in its financial markets, shattered by the uncertain future of beleaguered Daewoo Group, which last week revealed that it was on the verge of bankruptcy. The government package included plans to maintain a low interest rate policy, inject fresh funds into financial institutions that face a liquidity crunch and speed up sales of Daewoo's assets.

Hyo-Bin Im, an executive with the South Korean conglomerate Daewoo, was named chief executive of Cordata Technologies, a Thousand Oaks maker of IBM-compatible personal computers. The move, industry analysts said, is a further sign that Daewoo is taking control of Cordata's operations. Daewoo has been majority shareholder in the private company since late 1985. Im, 44, had been executive managing director of the planning and coordination division of Daewoo Group in Seoul.

A Superior Court judge refused to throw out a $13.6-million jury verdict that former piano distributor Vernon Schafer Jr. won three months ago from the U.S. affiliate of giant Daewoo Group. Judge Mason L. Fenton, who presided over the trial in Westminster, denied motions by Daewoo International (America) Corp. to order a new trial or render a judgment in its favor.

General Motors Corp. and Fiat said Sunday that they will study the finances of Daewoo Motor Co. before deciding whether to buy the South Korean company's passenger-car unit and related assets. The two companies expect the evaluation to be swift, and it may soon be followed by formal acquisition talks, GM said in a statement to Bloomberg News. GM and Fiat emerged as the most likely buyers for Daewoo after a joint bid by DaimlerChrysler and Hyundai Motor Co. and a separate one by Ford Motor Co.

After months of poring over the debt-riddled finances of Daewoo Motor Co., American auto giant Ford Motor Co. said Friday that it has dropped its $6.9-billion bid to buy the troubled South Korean car maker. "Ford Motor Co. has decided not to make a final offer for the acquisition of Daewoo Motor," Vice Chairman W. Wayne Booker said in a surprise announcement. "We believe that a proposal was not possible that would be in the best interest of Daewoo and Ford and their respective stakeholders."

Han Mi Sook, a 37-year-old company worker in Seoul, has owned a Daewoo sedan for several years. But riding around town with "Daewoo" on your hood has become a lot less prestigious since last August, when the entire industrial group was brought to its knees financially. "It's still running," she said with a laugh. "But it's a bit noisy." The same might be said for the entire South Korean auto industry these days.

South Korea's financial regulator said today that Daewoo Group and foreign creditors have reached a debt restructuring agreement. Daewoo Group's local creditors agreed to buy the company's debt to foreign banks in a move aimed at saving the South Korean conglomerate from bankruptcy. "Foreign creditors agreed to accept 39% to 40% of collection rate of their debts to four Daewoo affiliates," said a spokeswoman at the Financial Supervisory Commission.

The South Korean government said Sunday it will delay until next month its decision on whether to put Daewoo Corp. into bankruptcy, as domestic banks try to reach an agreement on bailing out ailing parent Daewoo Group. Lee Hun Jai, chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission--the government agency in charge of Korea's corporate restructuring--made the decision to delay action on Daewoo Corp.

Ford Motor Co. said on Wednesday that it is interested in buying Daewoo Motor Co., prompting the South Korean government to solicit bids for its No. 2 auto maker rather than negotiate exclusively with General Motors Corp. Ford will send its top Asia executive, Paul Drenkow, back to Seoul to talk with holders of Daewoo Motor's bonds and loans in early January, a month after he began talks with the creditors. Daewoo has more than $16 billion in debt.

Daewoo Chooses India Over China for New Plant: The Daewoo Group of South Korea will build a $500-million car engine factory to be operated by DCM-Daewoo, an existing joint venture with DCM Ltd. of India that already has an assembly plant in New Delhi, an official said. "Daewoo apparently found the progress in India faster than in China," DCM-Daewoo Managing Director S.G. Awasthi said. "Also, it would help logistically to have the factory near our existing car plant."

Kim Woo Choong offered to step down as chairman of near-insolvent Daewoo Group, ending 32 years at the helm of a business that he built into a $66-billion empire with borrowed money. The presidents of 12 key Daewoo units joined the 62-year-old Kim, who was on a trip to Germany, in offering to step down, conceding their responsibility for failing to head off South Korea's biggest corporate failure. It was unclear whether creditors accepted the offer.

Daewoo Securities Co.'s domestic creditors plan to assume control of South Korea's No. 1 brokerage today, accelerating the takeover as the company starts to run short of cash. The creditors, many of which were taken over by the government last year, plan to reshuffle the brokerage's management and complete the takeover today, said a spokesman for Daewoo's corporate reform committee.