Court approves arrest of ex-DB chair

A Seoul court on Saturday approved an arrest warrant for Kim Jun-ki, former chairman of Dongbu Group, over alleged sexual assaults.

The Seoul Central District Court approved the arrest warrant, saying among other things that the charges are significant and there is a possibility of Kim attempting to destroy evidence.

Kim, 74, is suspected of sexually assaulting his personal secretary multiple times between February and July in 2017. She filed a complaint later that year.

He was also accused in early 2018 of raping a housemaid in his vacation home multiple times between February 2016 and January 2017.

Kim resigned as Dongbu chairman in September just after news media reported the 2017 complaint. Dongbu is Korea’s 43rd-largest conglomerate, and its businesses range from construction and steel to finance.

Kim left for the United States in July 2017 and had stayed there - for medical treatment, according to him - ignoring the police summoning. He returned home on Wednesday, three months after police requested that the Ministry of Justice seek his extradition from the United States.

Yonhap