Chung Mong Koo
Chung Mong Koo (March 19, 1938 in Kangwon province) is the chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, the largest carmaker in South Korea. The Hyundai Motor Group is consist of 42 subsidiaries and it is second largest Chaebol in South Korea. Chung succeeded his father, Chung Ju-yung, founder of what would become the Hyundai Conglomerate. When the conglomerate split into several parts in 1999, Chung Monk Koo took over the Hyundai Motor business. He is eldest surviving son of Chung Ju-yung's eight sons.
Chung Mong Koo is much credited with improving the reputation, perception and sales of Hyundai vehicles by shifting the automaker's emphasis from production to quality.
He was named by Business Week as one of top managers for 2004. In 2006, he and his family were targeted by the Seoul Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office as part of an investigation into embezzling 100 billion won ($106 million USD) from Hyundai to create slush funds. Despite a travel ban, Chung left South Korea in April 2006. Chung was arrested on 28 April 2006 on charges related to embezzlement and other corruption.He was convicted of embezzlement and breach of fiduciary duty on 5 February 2007 and sentenced to three years of prison.
Chung remained free on bail while he appealed the sentence. On September 6, 2007, Chief judge Lee Jae-Hong ruled to suspend the sentence of Chung Mong-koo (in consideration of the huge economic impact of imprisonment), ordering instead of a 3-year jail term, the performance of community service and a $1 billion donation to charity. However on August 15, 2006, on the occasion of Korea's 63rd Independence Day, the ministry of Justice granted a special pardon to eliminate all chargsand sentences in order Mr. Chung to continue to contribute to the development of Hyundai Motor Group as well as Korean national economy. In 2009, the Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan won the North American Car of the Year award. By early 2011, Hyundai motor group was gauged by some in the auto industry to be the world's fourth-largest automaker.