[Yonhap Photo]
The 28-year-old son of Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-yeon made a public apology over his drunken rampage at a bar and promised to receive psychological counseling and treatment.
"I beg for forgiveness to those who I have hurt," Kim Dong-sun said in his statement published on Tuesday following news reports that he insulted ten young lawyers verbally and physically at a friendly meeting in a Seoul bar in September.
"After reading today's news article, I was so surprised and embarrassed to a point which I could not hold my head up high," Kim said, insisting he was dead drunk that night so he could not recall exactly what he had done that night.
The Hanwha patriarch's third son said he was already drunk before going to the bar and got even more intoxicated when he met lawyers. He was told the next morning by his acquaintance that he acted rudely and texted messages of apology, according to his statement.
He promised to take psychological counseling and treatment, saying he was so ashamed because he had to have a time of self-reflection. "If you give me a chance, I want to visit you one by one and extend my sincere apology for my mistake."
Kim was on probation for an assault case he got involved in January this year. He was arrested in January when he wielded a whiskey bottle and beat bar employees at a bar while drinking in Seoul. In March, a Seoul court sentenced him to eight months in prison but suspended it for two years.
Although the lawyers did not file any complaints and police have not yet launched an investigation into the September bar assault, it is inevitable for Kim to serve time in jail if he gets indicted again. An association of lawyers in Seoul issued a statement condemning the assault as "a grave challenge to constitutionalism".
In 2010, Kim was accused of assaulting security guards in a hotel bar when he was drunk. However, Kim evaded indictment as he paid settlement money to three injured victims of assault.
The Hanwha patriarch's children have been well-known for a series of misconduct. In 2007, the tycoon was convicted of abducting and clobbering Karaoke bar workers, watched by bodyguards to exact revenge for his second son who was beaten up at the bar.
In early 2014, the second son received a suspended jail sentence for smoking marijuana. The group boss has trained his eldest son and third-generation family member, Kim Dong-kwan, as heir to the throne.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
