Woongjin Group chairman Yoon Seok-keum apologized on Friday to the public, creditors and employees for his mismanagement that led to his two major companies requesting court protection.

Speaking at a hurriedly arranged news conference in Seoul, chairman Yoon bowed his head several times in apology and confessed that excessive expansion of the group resulted in the filing of the court receivership.

“I should have given up the solar energy and construction businesses. I filed for court receivership to take responsibility at the last moment. But the public opinion was that I was not good enough to be the CEO. So I decided to step down,” he said. 

On Thursday, he announced his resignation from co-CEO of Woongjin Holdings, the holding company of the conglomerate, after mounting public criticism that he took the title just before the company and Kukdong Engineering & Construction requested for the court protection as a way to maintain his managerial control of the group. The holdings firm is now headed by remaining CEO Shin Kwang-soo.

Looking back on 32 years of his career since the establishment of Woongjin, Yoon emphasized that he never ordered any accounting fraud. He invested all his money to the company and has nothing other than his house, the money he lent to Woongjin Play City, and some shares in Woongjin Food, he said.

Yoon declined to make specific comments about a court’s deliberation on the filing, just saying that it is up to the creditors to make most of the decisions including the early sale of Woongjin Coway.

The public criticism against him has become intense as the questionable ethics of Woongjin Holdings’ executives were unveiled, including Yoon’s wife and several executives’ selling of the holding firm’s shares a day before it was filed for court receivership. Kim Hyang-sook, Yoon’s wife, is believed to have avoided financial losses worth around 50 million by selling all her stocks at Woongjin Thinkbig just in time.

Hyundai Swiss Savings Bank filed a suit on Thursday against four Woongjin Holdings executives including Yoon and Shin on fraud charges.

“Woongjin Group did not pay for Kukdong Engineering & Construction’s corporate bond worth 15 billion won on Sept. 25, the maturity date,” said a spokesperson at the savings bank.

Other creditors are also furious over Yoon’s alleged actions to freeze the group’s liabilities, including the application for court receivership to nullify the sale of Woongjin Coway to MBK Partners.

They argue that Yoon’s resignation as co-CEO means nothing, and are on the move to push him out of management completely.

“It would be the same as if Yoon is still in the post if a ‘Woongjin person’ who can be manipulated by Yoon is in the CEO’s seat,” said an official in the creditors front who wished to stay anonymous.

Creditors demanded in the Seoul Central District Court on Friday that Yoon should be excluded completely from management. Instead of Yoon, who is no longer a legal representative of the holdings firm, Shin and Kukdong CEO Kim Jeong-hun were present for the court’s deliberation on the request for court receivership.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)