[Chonghaejin Marine Co.] Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun was the de facto owner of the Chonghaejin Marine Co. that was in charge of the Sewol ferry’s operations.

1. What are the false reports?

 

“Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun is the de facto owner of the Chonghaejin Marine Co that owns the Sewol ferry”, “Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun is the shipowner of the Sewol'' are examples of the false reports published by various media outlets. Publishers of these false reports have either deleted these reports or written correction and refuting articles either by order of the Press Arbitration Commission or through negotiation with the respective agencies.

 

 

 

2. False report vs. Truth

Chairman Yoo Byung-eun is known as the de facto owner of the Chonghaejin Marine Co, and also received suspicion that he is also de facto owner of Sewol ferry. The late Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun is the owner of the Sewol ferry.

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It is a false claim that the late Mr. Yoo Byung-eun owned any shares of the Sewol ferry’s owner Chonghaejin Marine Co. under his own name, and the court ruled that the shares of Chonghaejin Marine Co. do not belong to the late Former Chairman Yoo under borrowed name; therefore, it has been confirmed he cannot be named as the de facto owner of Sewol ferry. Several media outlets have published correction reports as a result.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Related Articles

 

<MediaToday 2015-06-30>

[Exclusive] Yoo Byung-eun was not the de facto owner of Sewol ferry’s affiliated companies.

The problem is that the fundamental premise made by the prosecutors, that the late Former Chairman Yoo was the de facto owner of Chonghaejin Marine Co. and tens of affiliated companies, has become questionable. If Mrs. Shin Myung-hee, Director Lee Suk-hwan, and CEO Kim Hye-kyung were not responsible for finance management of the late Former Chairman Yoo, it cannot be established that the real estate and businesses were his property under borrowed name. Consequently, just as EBC’ has been claiming from the beginning, Chonghaejin Marine Co. along with the companies affiliated with Yoo Byung-eun specified by the prosecutors are under rightful ownership of the church or of the children of the late Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun and relatives as per the certificate of title and registration.

 

 

<Seoul Administrative Court the 3rd 2016KuHap50259 Judgment>

Without any evidence that the funding of the deceased was used at the time of the paid-in capital increase of Chonghaejin Marine Co, (witness Cho who was employed with Chonghaejin Marine Co. from 2000.10.1 to 2014.5.31 is actually testifying at this court that according to his understanding, at the time of paid-in increase of Chonghaejin Marine Co, funding for the capital increase came from bank loans, borrowed funds from partnering companies, and contribution from Ahn who was CEO at the time as well as from employees.) above fact alone is insufficient to prove the truth of the issue, and also no other adequate evidence exists.

 

 

 

4. Corrective and Refuting Reports

<Correction and Refutation against reports on Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun> (Business Watch 2018.6.5)

2. With regards to the article about “the de facto owner of Sewol ferry, the Former Chairman of Semo group, late Mr. Yoo Byung-eun”, not only is there is no truth in the assertion that the late Former Chairman Yoo had any share of Chonghaejin Marine Co. in his own name, but there is also no reason to believe that there are any shares in the Chonghaejin Marine Co. that he owned under borrowed name, as confirmed per Judgment (2016KuHap50259 and 2016Nu63004).

 

<Correction and Refutation with regards to Evangelical Baptist Church (the Salvation Group) and Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun>

5. With regards to the report about the late Former Chairman Yoo, court judgment was that there is no truth in the assertion that he owned any share of Sewol’s ship owner Chonghaejin Marine Co. in his name and also no truth in that the late Former Chairman Yoo owned any share of Chonghaejin Marine co. under a borrowed name.

 

[Correction report regarding the late Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun] (Gyeongsang Daily Report 2017.07.10)

However after fact checking, the late Former Chairman Yoo Byung-eun did not own any shares in the Sewol ferry’s ship owner Chonghaejin Marine Co. in his own name, and also court ruled that the shares in Chonghaejin Marine Co. did not belong to the late Former Chairman Yoo under a borrowed name; therefore, it has been confirmed that he is not the de facto owner of the Sewol ferry.

 

 

 

본 게시글은 지난 2014년 4월 중순부터 2016년 10월 말까지 310여 곳의 언론사들이 보도한 

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