Tycoon jailed for beating bar staff

One of South Korea’s richest people was jailed for one and a half years today for a vicious attack against bar staff who had scuffled with his son.

Seoul District Court handed down the ruling against Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn, 55.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison term for Kim for ordering his bodyguards to attack the off-duty staff who had taken part in the altercation with his 22-year-old son.

In his first trial session last month, Kim admitted punching the bar workers during the attack in March, but denied the victims’ claim that he used a steel pipe or a stun gun.

The tycoon also said he was the one who “mainly beat” them and that his bodyguards took over when he “got tired”.

Kim has been in jail since his May 11 arrest.

The dramatic details of the case, which media have likened to something from a gangster film, have drawn intense public interest in South Korea, where the heads of family-controlled conglomerates wield great economic, political and social clout.