Hyundai Motor Co Chairman Chung Mong Koo was ordered to pay 70 billion won ($60 million) to the carmaker following his 2008 conviction for breach of duty.
The Seoul Central District Court also today ordered Kim Dong Jin, the carmaker’s former vice chairman, to pay 55 billion won to the company, court spokesman Kim Seong Soo said by phone.
Solidarity for Economic Reform, which led shareholders suing for damages, said it would appeal to a higher court to seek more money. Chung, 71, was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of duty in 2008 and given a three-year suspended jail sentence before being pardoned by South Korean President Lee Myung Bak.
“We welcome the court’s ruling that management had a clear responsibility in this case,” Kim Hong Kil, a researcher at Solidarity for Economic Reform, said by phone.
The group had asked the court to force Chung and Kim to pay 563.1 billion won to the automaker.
Barun Law in Seoul, which represented Chung and Kim, didn’t immediately return phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment. Hyundai Motor said it had no comment in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg questions.