By Kim Sung-jin
Staff Reporter
The ongoing fraternal power struggle within the Doosan Group may jeopardize South Korea’s successful hosting of the international business event scheduled for November.
According to an executive of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), former Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-oh, who currently serves as the chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit 2005 Organizing Committee, may be driven out of the post.
``The question of whether Park will keep his post as the chairman of the APEC CEO Summit 2005 will be determined by the Doosan company shareholders’ decisions to be made at the extraordinary meetings slated for September,’’ said an FKI executive on condition of anonymity.
On July 22, incoming Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-sung said that the conglomerate decided to drive out Yong-oh for spreading groundless slush fund rumors surrounding the family business a day earlier.
The Doosan Group said Doosan Corp., the de facto holding firm of the business group, and Doosan Industrial Development, the two companies of which Park Yong-oh served as the chief executive, will convene extraordinary shareholders’ meetings next month to acquire shareholders’ approval to depose the former chairman from the CEO’s posts.
``It remains to be seen as Park Yong-oh’s fate will be decided according to the shareholders’ votes. We hope Park family would resolve the brotherly dispute amicably as the APEC CEO Summit 2005 Organizing Committee may suffer a setback if it replaces the chairman just three months ahead of the event,’’ he said.
APEC CEO Summit 2005 will be held between Nov. 17-19 at the port city of Pusan with some 500 CEOs and senior executives of top-tier multinational corporations, including Microsoft, Citgroup, Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, HSBC and AIG, in attendance.
``But I personally hope Park will be able to chair the APEC CEO Summit 2005 because there’s not many Korean entrepreneurs who can carry out chairman’s role in such big international business event,’’ he said.
He said Park Yong-oh played a key role in Korea’s successful hosting of the eighth Asia Europe Business Forum, which was held in 2003 in Seoul, as the chairman of the event.
``Nevertheless, it is true that the organizing committee is also concerned over whether Park will be able to fulfill his duty as the chairperson of the CEO Summit when he is mired in a power struggle because chairman’s role is very important for successful hosting of the event,’’ he added.
The executive neither confirmed nor denied the rumor that the FKI is searching for the replacement of Park as the chairperson of the international business event.
Meanwhile, the Doosan Group’s brotherly feud also placed incoming chairman Park Yong-sung’s membership in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at stake.
The slush fund scandal that unfortunately came out during the family’s power struggle blemished Park’s reputation, jeopardizing his re-election as the chairman of the International Judo Federation (IJF).
Last May, the Judo Union of Asia (JUA) promised full and unanimous support to Park Yong-sung’s re-election as IJF president, but with his morality being questioned by the prosecution, it is unlikely that support will remain intact after the Doosan Group’s slush fund scandal.
If Park fails to win the IJF chairmanship election, he will automatically lose his IOC membership.
As the IJF chairman election will be held at Cairo, Egypt, between Sept. 8-11, Park Yong-sung is forecast to exert all-out efforts to prove his innocence.
Park Yong-sung became IJF chairman in September 1995 and was re-elected to the post in July 2001. He is forecast to run for the third term against Marius Vizer of Romania.
If Park loses his IOC membership, Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee will be the only Korean retaining the membership as former IOC vice chairman Kim Un-yong disgracefully resigned from the post last May.
sjkim@koreatimes.co.kr
