Hyundai chair must babysit instead of jail time

27/06/2008 13:08. Later, however, an appeals court reduced his prison term to 300 hours of community service involving physical labor, saying his imprisonment would have a negative impact on the country's largest carmaker, which accounts for about 5 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Reaction toward the court decision to change Chung's sentence from prison to community service has been mixed. // China Post

26/06/2008 17:43. Seoul - The chairman of Hyundai Motor Co has been cleaning rooms and feeding and bathing abandoned babies at a Catholic welfare centre as penance for his embezzlement conviction.

"I feel like being young again with babies," Chung Mong Koo said while holding a 1-year-old in his arms. "I have 11 grandchildren, and I would like to be babysitting these babies as if they were my own grandchildren."

A court sentenced Chung, 71, in February to three years in prison for setting up 90 billion won (87 million US dollars) in slush funds to bribe officials.

Later, however, an appeals court reduced his prison term to 300 hours of community service involving physical labor, saying his imprisonment would have a negative impact on the country's largest carmaker, which accounts for about 5 per cent... // TopNews