Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-Koo is in the middle of a vast philanthropic push he hopes will help him avoid jail after a conviction on corruption charges in Korea.
He is appealing a three-year jail sentence handed down in January so he can keep running Hyundai. Chung set up a $1 billion (€730 million) charitable foundation. But he’s also working in person.
That included a spring trip to central Europe. It clearly wasn’t just ribbon-cutting at Hyundai’s Czech plant site in Nosovice.
“I’d like to ask for your support for another matter,” he said, puzzling his Czech audience by pitching Korea’s bid to host Expo 2012 in the city of Yeosu.
What pull does a 1,000-population Czech village 9,000km from Korea have? Not much, but also seeking Expo 2012 is Wroclaw in neighboring Poland.
