Prosecutors have indicted Park Han-woo, CEO of Kia Motors Corp., on charges of illegally receiving workers from in-house contractors. The decision came four years after the prosecution received the complaint from irregular workers at the company's Hwaseong plant in 2015.
The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said on July 9 that it has indicted CEO Park without detention on charges of violating the law on the protection of dispatched workers. Park is suspected of illegally receiving 860 workers from 16 in-house suppliers to 151 processes, including car production operations.
In July 2015, Kia's labor union filed a complaint with the prosecution against CEO Park and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo on charges of violating the dispatch law.
The prosecution, however, has not indicted Chung on the grounds that he was not directly involved in the management and contract of in-house suppliers.
In response, Kia's labor union criticized, "The prosecution's probe of illegal dispatched workers is slower than the speed of earthworms, although its probe of workers is carrying out at the KTX speed."
It also criticized that the prosecution`s acquittal of Chairman Chung, who is responsible for Hyundai-Kia Motors` illegal operations for nearly two decades, and the prosecution`s indictment of CEO Park without detention are evidence that the prosecution is still investigating the cases in favor of chaebol conglomerates.
