Tag: Hanjin Shipping

Is there anything Choi Soon-sil is not linked to at this point?:

Did scandal-mired Choi Soon-sil play a role in sinking Hanjin Shipping?

Rumors are rife that the shadowy confidant of President Park Geun-hye was an “invisible hand” blocking creditors’ financial aid to the troubled shipping company.

Pressed by snowballing debts, the nation’s No.1 shipper filed for court receivership in August, triggering chaos in the global maritime cargo transportation network. The company has since been forced to sell its core assets, including vessels that operate on its lucrative Asia-U.S. route, in a desperate effort to stay afloat.

There are allegations that decision-makers in the government and Hanjin’s key creditor, the state-backed Korea Development Bank, were positive about extending a lifeline to Hanjin with a cash injection or other measures until March. But an “invisible hand” cut in and abruptly stopped the process, according to the Joongang Ilbo daily.

The newspaper said Choi, 60, broke the deal because of Hanjin’s “lukewarm support” of two nonprofit foundations she controls. The organizations — Mir and K-Sports — were allegedly set up with tens of billions of won “donated” by Korea’s big companies and Choi siphoned funds from the organizations, like personal ATMs.

According to news reports, Hanjin wired a billion won ($877,500) to the organizations, which was less than the amount from other companies with smaller sales than Hanjin.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but it seems like anything remotely negative that has happened in Korea critics are looking for some way to link Choi to it.

Here is an update on the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy, the Korean government is trying to get Hanjin’s former chairwoman to cough up more personal funds to help cover some of the bankruptcy costs:

Choi Eun-young, former chairwoman of Hanjin Shipping, refused at a parliamentary hearing late Tuesday to cough up additional funds from her personal assets to help save the world’s seventh-largest container carrier.

On Sept. 12, Choi vowed to provide 10 billion won ($9.1 million) in private funds to cash-strapped Hanjin help tide the company over during the ongoing crisis. She knelt in front of lawmakers at the hearing at the Sejong Government Complex Tuesday, when Park Wan-joo, a lawmaker with the opposition Minjoo Party, berated her.

“You dragged up Hanjin Shipping’s debt ratio from 155 percent to 1,445 percent during your term and now you are saying you cannot donate your own assets because [Hanjin Group] Chairman Cho Yang-ho has been in charge since 2014?” Park asked. “Do you think you have served your responsibility? You are supposed to be sincere when making apologies.”

“I am sorry if I appear I am not properly apologizing. I apologize from the bottom of my heart,” she said, falling to her knees and sobbing with her head down for half a minute. “But [coughing up more of my fortune] would be difficult because it may wreak havoc with the management of Eusu Holdings.”

She currently is chairwoman of Eusu Holdings, which was split when she gave up oversight of Hanjin Shipping in May 2014.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but according to the article she is worth anywhere from $40-$180 million dollars.

Further reading:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/09/should-korean-government-bailout-hanjin-shipping/