Gwak Sang-do's Son Explains "5 Billion Won Retirement Pay" as Money Earned Through Employment and Performance

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Regarding the report that the son of Gwak Sang-do, a member of the People Power Party, received 5 billion KRW as severance pay from Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, Gwak’s son, Gwak Byung-chae, directly issued a clarification.

On the morning of the same day, Gwak stated through his father’s Facebook, “It is not true that my father was behind Hwacheon Daeyu and received compensation because of it.”

He explained, “Is the essence of the Daejang-dong case a problem of a scheme designed to earn hundreds of billions, or is it an issue of an individual who worked hard within it? I was just a ‘pawn’ in a meticulously designed Squid Game. What could I have done or achieved? When I joined, Hwacheon Daeyu’s entire setup was already complete.”

Regarding how he joined the company, he said, “My father told me that Mr. Kim was looking for people for a real estate development project and suggested I check it out if I was interested. I thought this project might be a big hit and worth betting on, so I inquired, applied through the recruitment process, and after an interview, I joined around June 2015.”

On the controversy over salary and severance pay, he stated, “From joining until February 2018, I earned 2.33 million KRW per month; from March to September 2018, 3.33 million KRW; and thereafter until January 2021, 3.83 million KRW. These amounts are before tax. As profits became visible, in June 2020, I signed a performance bonus contract including severance pay for 500 million KRW. Before leaving in March 2021, the performance bonus contract was revised to 5 billion KRW, and after withholding tax, I received about 2.8 billion KRW in my account around April 30, 2021. This amount was not promised from the time of joining.”

Regarding the allegation that his father was behind the scenes, he emphasized, “My father only recently learned about this. When Hwacheon Daeyu was heavily reported in the media due to the Daejang-dong development project, he asked me what was going on, so I told him about my salary and performance bonus. This money is in my account, and I earned it by joining and working at Hwacheon Daeyu.”

On the amount of severance pay, he said, “The large amount of performance bonus and consolation money was due to the company making enormous profits. I also did my best as a company employee to help generate such profits.”

He added, “From 2018, my health showed warning signs. I collapsed at work and was transported to the hospital by colleagues. It became impossible to continue working. I understand the company recognized that all this was caused by excessive work and thus set the performance bonus and consolation money accordingly.”

He concluded, “Like everyone in society, I thought about how to be recognized at work while doing my job and worked hard for nearly seven years. I believe some people will say the severance pay is excessive. However, rather than going all-in on stocks or coins, I thought going all-in on Hwacheon Daeyu could be a jackpot, so I bet everything on the company.”