Chey Chul-won
Former president of M&M

The case was made public by MBC’s investigative program aired on Sunday. A 52-year-old trucker, identified only by his surname Yoo, claimed that Chey Chul-won, the 41-year-old former CEO of SK Group affiliated logistics firm, Might & Main (M&M) Corp., had hit him more than 10 times with an aluminum bat and beat him with his fist at Chey’s office in central Seoul on Oct. 18.

According to the program, Chey savagely beat the trucker who struggled to dodge the beating, shouting at the victim, "1 million won for one beating.” While he assaulted the driver, seven to eight senior company officials were also present at the scene.

The truck driver, a member of the Korea Cargo Transport Workers’ Union, which is affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Union, held a one-man protest in front of the headquarters of SK Group in January this year after losing his job, following M&M’s takeover of his former company.

Yoo was fired after he had refused to withdraw from the union, he argued, while all other truckers quit the union in return for job security. 

He said on TV that during his visit to Chey’s office to discuss the sale of his truck, he was beaten over 10 times in front of company executives and given 20 million won for taking the beating. 

Yoo said he was forced to sign a contract to sell the truck for 50 million won. But when he refused to do so, Chey started assaulting him. After beating him, Chey wired 50 million won to his bank account, and gave him 20 million won in checks. 

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has begun looking into the case and plans to summon those involved. A police officer said investigators will first question Yoo to confirm exactly what had happened. Chey will then be called in for questioning, he said.

Since the allegation became exposed, several Internet users have filed an online petition on the Agora page of the Daum port, calling for Chey’s arrest. Thousands of netizens have signed the petition, urging the police to immediately take Chey into custody.

Linklaw, the law firm representing Yoo, said it will file a complaint against Chey with the police Tuesday on behalf of his client, adding it will consider filing a civil suit after closely monitoring how the criminal case proceeds. 

"It is problematic to think one can assault someone and simply escape the law by paying the victim money,” it said.

An M&M spokesman refused to comment on the incident, only saying that Chey is currently staying overseas for business purposes.

In the upper picture, a second-generation Chaebol heir says, "I’ll give you 1 million Won for each hit,” as he whacks an employee with a baseball bat. In the lower picture, the victim, a worker, moans in pain as the Chaebol heir says to him, "This was the price I told you. Now, beat it!” The Chaebol heir throws two checks worth 10 million Won at him. (Illustration by Kim Young-hoon)