Editing Daewoo (section)

=== Crisis and collapse ===
{{main|Daewoo dissolution and corruption scandal}}
Daewoo Group ran into deep financial trouble in 1998 due to the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]], increasingly precarious relationships with the Korean government under President [[Kim Dae-jung]], and its own poor financial management. With the Korean government in deficit, access to cheap and nearly unlimited credit was severely restricted.

In 1998, due to the impact of the foreign exchange crisis ln the end, after Daewoo group went bankrupt, dissolution subsidiaries, in a year where the group lost a total of {{KRWConvert|550|b|year=1998|showdate=no}} on sales of {{KRWConvert|62|t|year=1998|showdate=no}}. At the end of 1997, South Korea's fourth-largest chaebol had a debt of nearly five times their equity. While [[Samsung]] and [[LG Corp|LG]] cut back in the midst of the economic crisis, Daewoo took on 40% more debt.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/233562 |title=South Korea: The death of Daewoo |publisher=The Economist |date= 19 August 1999|access-date=2015-10-13}}</ref>

By 1999, Daewoo, the second largest conglomerate in South Korea with interests in about 100 countries, went bankrupt, with debts of about US$50 billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|50|1999|r=0}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=":0" />

Soon after the demise, Kim Woo-choong fled to Vietnam, and former Daewoo factory workers put up [[wanted poster]]s with his picture. Kim returned to Korea in June 2005 and was promptly arrested. He was charged with masterminding accounting fraud of 41 trillion won (US$43.4 billion), illegally borrowing 9.8 trillion won (US$10.3 billion), and smuggling US$3.2 billion out of the country, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/30/skorea.daewoo/index.html |title= Daewoo founder Kim gets 10-yr term |date=30 May 2006 |access-date=2008-11-20 | work=CNN |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080408091248/http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/30/skorea.daewoo/index.html |archive-date = April 8, 2008}}</ref> On 30 May 2006, Kim was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of fraud and embezzlement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HF01Dg03.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901233057/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HF01Dg03.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=September 1, 2006|title=Daewoo founder sentenced to 10 years in prison|date=June 1, 2006|website=www.atimes.com|publisher=Asia Times Online|access-date=2016-07-06}}</ref> On the last day of the trial, Kim tearfully addressed the court, "I cannot dodge my responsibility of wrongly buttoning up the final button of fate."<ref>{{cite news |last=Ramstad |first=Evan |url=https://www.wsj.com/article/SB114896838655866106-search.html?KEYWORDS=daewoo&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month |title=Daewoo Founder Gets Prison Term - WSJ.com |publisher=Online.wsj.com |date=31 May 2006 |access-date=2008-11-20 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>