Workers plan a suit against SK

The SK Corp. union said yesterday that it will file civil charges against Son Kil-seung, chairman of SK Group and Kim Seung-yu, president of Hana Bank, the largest creditor of SK Global Co., for malfeasance. Hankyul, the law firm representing the SK Corp. union, said Mr. Son and Mr. Kim brought losses on SK Corp. by entering a non-binding treaty declaring that the annual operating income of SK Global would be kept above 430 billion won ($361 million) before taxes. Because even a sound firm would have difficulty in meeting such a target, the law firm said, the agreement would mean future liabilities for SK Corp. as its sister firm struggles to survive. Separately, an outside director of SK Corp. said that the decision of the company’s board to convert 850 billion won of debt owed by SK Global into equity would be canceled unless SK Telecom gives written pledges to assist in the bailout. Park Heung-soo, professor of business at Yonsei University, said yesterday that the decision of the SK Corp. board to help in the bailout was based on SK Telecom help as well. SK Corp. directors said the telecom firm’s pledge to keep its business dealings with SK Global at the same level as before was as good as a written guarantee of help. by Jung Hyun-mok, Yum Tae-jung