[Unofficial translation provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

“FKTU Calls for punishment of Daewoo Winia Chairman Park Young-woo if he ignores upcoming hearing.” 21 January 2025

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) has urged the government to devise fundamental measures to address wage arrears ahead of a National Assembly Environment and Labour Committee hearing on the unpaid wages at Dayou Winia Group.

… Wage arrears have been setting record highs since 2023, and (…) the total amount of unpaid wages in 2024 is expected to surpass 2 trillion won. (…) The FKTU stated, “The unprecedented wage arrears of over 2 trillion won in 2024 were largely caused by the Dayou Group wage arrears crisis,” and emphasised that “strict legal penalties, along with social punishment, must be imposed.”

Dayou Winia Group has been withholding wages amounting to 120 billion won since 2022. (…) Chairman Park Young-woo appeared before the National Assembly's Environment and Labour Committee in 2023, promising to sell his personal assets to settle the wage arrears. (…) Despite raising 300 billion won from the sale of the Montverre Country Club golf course, he failed to pay the overdue wages. In March 2023, Chairman Park was arrested and indicted on charges of violating the Labour Standards Act, the Employee Retirement Benefits Guarantee Act, and embezzlement under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

According to an article published by Labor Today on the 21st, Dayou Winia Group responded during the hearing in the absence of Chairman Park. Park Hyun-chul, former CEO of Winia Electronics and Chairman Park's nephew, stated, 'I was in custody on charges of violating the Labour Standards Act, so I don’t know.' Meanwhile, Park Eun-jin, the Vice President, said, 'We are thinking hard about what we can do and will do our best,' adding, 'Since I returned from maternity leave in July 2021, I was not deeply involved in the management during the period of wage arrears.