Chaebol face calls to testify at Assembly

More big business leaders than ever are expected to appear at the annual parliamentary audit session that starts Sept. 4, with lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties calling for chaebol reform.

It has become an annual ritual to see business tycoons subpoenaed at the National Assembly, but more high-profile business leaders are facing calls to appear this year, amid negative public sentiment toward chaebol.

At the top of the list is Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, as doubts are snowballing about the retail giant’s shady governance structure following a recent mud-slinging family feud.

Bipartisan panel members from the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee said they would seek to call in Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho and his two sons -- Shin Dong-joo and Shin Dong-bin.

Other parliamentary committees, including the Trade, Industry and Energy Committee, were also considering questioning the Lotte leadership.

Members of the Health and Welfare Committee are discussing plans to subpoena Samsung Group heir-apparent and Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong for a Samsung-owned hospital’s mishandling of the Middle East respiratory syndrome that claimed 36 lives in Korea.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee is also reportedly reviewing a plan to ask Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho to testify about his eldest daughter Cho Hyun-ah’s “nut rage” incident. The daughter, a former Korean Air executive, was jailed for 143 days for assaulting crew members and disrupting the plane’s operation over the way a pack of macadamia nuts was served in the first-class cabin. 

Other high-profile business figures facing calls from the Assembly include Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin, Pigeon CEO Lee Joo-yeon and Kumho Tire president Kim Chang-kyu.

CEOs in the telecom sector could also be subjected to the lawmakers’ audit. The Information and Communications Technology Committee at the Assembly wants to grill the CEOs of the nation’s top three telecom carriers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- on their marketing activities to attract customers.

With the final list of the witnesses scheduled to be confirmed this week, ruling and opposition parties have clashed over the scope of witnesses to be called. 

Opposition parties are upping the offensive to take the audit session as the starting point of reform of chaebol, South Korean family-controlled conglomerates. 

“We should ask ourselves whether fair opportunities are given in Korea,” said Rep. Park Young-sun of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

But the ruling Saenuri Party has been cautious about the calls of big business leaders, saying that disgracing chaebol owners in public doesn’t help solving fundamental problems.

“Subpoenas should be limited to the minimum. We would not seek to humiliate witnesses,” said Rep. Kim Jeong-hoon, head of the party’s policy planning committee.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)