[2008.08.16] 韩国：原谅我吧

South Korea
韩国

Pardon me
原谅我吧

Aug 14th 2008 | SEOUL
From The Economist print edition

The president forgives some tycoons
李明博总统赦免了一些企业界大亨

THE leaders of South Korea’s conglomerates or chaebols have long acted as if they were above the law. Kim Seung-youn, chairman of Hanwha, an explosives, construction and insurance group, confessed last year to beating bar workers at a building site with the help of his own goons. He was retaliating after his son was hurt in a scuffle. After a few months in jail, Mr Kim was released on health grounds, and was soon back at his desk running Hanwha. This week, to mark the day South Korea celebrates liberation from Japanese colonialism, the president, Lee Myung-bak, pardoned him and 341,863 others.
韩国那些大企业集团和财阀的领导人长期以来凌驾于法律之上。韩华集团–一家集油气开采、建筑和保险的大企业集团，其会长金升渊承认去年纠集他的打手在一处建筑工地殴打一名酒吧服务人员。目的是为在混战中受伤的儿子报仇。在几个月监禁之后，金升渊由于身体原因而被释放，不久后便重掌韩华集团。本周为了庆祝韩国摆脱日本殖民统治纪念日，总统李明博大赦了金升渊和其它341,863囚犯。

They included Chung Mong-koo, the chairman of Hyundai, the world’s sixth-largest carmaker. Last year Mr Chung was convicted of embezzling about $90m from his company, and sentenced to 300 hours of community service. Chey Tae-won, of SK Group, a telecommunications, oil-refining and construction chaebol, was convicted in 2003 of illegal share swaps designed to keep the most lucrative parts of the group in his family’s control. Mr Chey did not serve any time in prison, but was given a suspended sentence. Now Mr Lee has pardoned him, too.
这其中就包括世界第六大汽车制造商韩国现代集团会长郑梦九。他去年因非法挪用公司9千万美元资金而获刑，外加300小时的社区服务。韩国SK集团（涉及通讯、石油炼化和建筑行业）会长崔泰源在2003年被指控进行非法股票交易，他这样做是为了使其家族更好地保持对集团的控制权。但是崔泰源并没有在监狱中服刑，而是缓刑执行。现在李明博总统同样也赦免他了。

President Lee came to power earlier this year pledging to raise average national income per head to $40,000 a year and to achieve 7% annual economic growth. He has appealed to chaebol leaders to boost investment and jobs. But at his inauguration Mr Lee also promised to back “business leaders who are transparent and put in an honest day’s work”. So the pardons for the three chaebol bosses look a bit odd. Many South Koreans see them as proof that the wealthy are held to different standards from those applied to ordinary citizens.
李明博总统今年上任之初就保证要将韩国人均国民收入提高到4万美元以上，同时保证7%的经济增长率。他呼吁那些大财阀领导人要努力增加投资和就业机会。但是李明博在就职典礼上同样承诺支持那些透明的、投入到”一天诚实工作”中的商业领导人。所以这次对这三个大财阀会长的赦免有些奇怪。许多韩国人把这看成是富人与普通百姓可以适用不同法律标准的证据。

Mr Lee, a former chief executive of ten different Hyundai group units, has himself been haunted by allegations that his past personal business dealings were less than pristine, particularly with regard to his family’s property sales and the failure of an investment firm he helped found. One of Mr Lee’s prospective ministers and several presidential aides have had to resign after questions were raised over their ethics. The first cousin of the president’s wife was arrested this month after receiving money from a man who wanted to clinch a parliamentary nomination from Mr Lee’s ruling party. The president’s approval rating hovers around 20%. Pardoning business bigwigs will not help it rise.
李明博总统曾在现代集团十多个部门担任首席执行官，人们由此指责他过去个人的生意并不是那么”干净”，特别是关于家族房产的出售和他所创办投资公司的失败，这些一直困扰着李明博。李明博政府中很有希望的一个部长和几个总统助理在受到道德方面质询后而被迫辞职。总统夫人的堂姐由于收受一名商人的贿赂在本月被捕，这名男子想获得来自李明博所在政党的国会议员提名。李明博的支持率也因此徘徊在 20%左右。但是赦免这些商业巨子估计对他的支持率也起不了多大作用。

译者：jyjnl   http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=13328&extra=page%3D1