Ex-Doosan head dies in apparent suicide

Park Yong-oh, who was ousted in 2005 from Doosan Group`s chairmanship in a power struggle with his brothers, died yesterday of an apparent suicide.

According to the police, the 72-year-old tycoon was found hanged in his Seoul home at around 8 a.m. He was then taken to Seoul National University Hospital where he was declared dead.

Police said they have found what appears to be a suicide note left by Park.

Yong-oh`s brothers, excluding Yong-maan who is now on a business trip overseas, all gathered at the hospital and will help the bereaved family plan the funeral, Doosan`s spokesperson, Kim Byong-soo said.

"The funeral will be organized by the family," he told reporters.

Park was the second of the six sons of Park Doo-byung, the founder of Doosan, the country`s oldest conglomerate. He served as chairman of the group from 1996 till he was expelled from the family in 2005 after the "battle of brothers" over management control. He remained estranged from the family until his death.



Since March 2008, Park had been running small-sized builder Sungjee Construction Co., with the hope of growing it into a major player.

Sungjee, however, has reportedly been struggling with a liquidity problem since last year`s sharp economic downturn. Its industry ranking dropped to 69th this year, while it suffered 370 million won ($311,000) of losses in the first six months of the year. Its operating profit plunged 63 percent from a year ago to 1.87 billion won.

The suicide of Yong-oh, if confirmed, will leave another scar on Doosan, which once took pride in the way the founder`s family had run the business since 1896.

A feud over the control of Doosan erupted in 2005, when Yong-oh, who inherited the group`s leadership from the family`s eldest son, Yong-gon, refused to pass the baton on to the next in line, Yong-sung.

Yong-oh filed a complaint with prosecutors accusing Yong-sung and other relatives of creating slush funds through embezzlement and accounting fraud. Based on tips from Yong-oh, prosecutors expanded the probe into management irregularities at the group, which led to convictions of Yong-oh, Yong-sung and Yong-maan on embezzlement and other charges.

In February 2007, Yong-sung and Yong-maan were pardoned and later returned to the management of Doosan, but Yong-oh was excluded.

The late tycoon`s misfortunes did not stop there. In July this year, his second son Joong-won received a jail sentence for stock price manipulation.

Doosan is among the top 10 business groups in Korea, with its business portfolio ranging from machinery and power plants to food. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. is Korea`s biggest power-equipment maker and Doosan Infracore Co. is the nation`s largest construction equipment maker. The group is currently headed by Yong-maan, the fifth son.

(milaya@heraldm.com)



By Lee Sun-young