Daewoo Exec Gets 8 1/2-Year Prison Term

Kim Woo-choong, former chairman of collapsed conglomerate Daewoo Group, arrives at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, west of Seoul, in this June 14, 2005, file photo. A Seoul appeals court on Friday November 3, 2006, sentenced the founder and former chairman of collapsed conglomerate Daewoo to eight and a half years in prison. The Seoul High Court said it also ordered Kim Woo-choong to forfeit 18 trillion won (US$19 billion; euro15 billion) and pay a fine of 10 million won (US$10,700; euro8,300). (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, FILE) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)

SEOUL, South Korea -- A Seoul appeals court on Friday sentenced the founder and former chairman of collapsed conglomerate Daewoo to eight and a half years in prison.

The Seoul High Court said it also ordered Kim Woo-choong to forfeit 18 trillion won ($19 billion) and pay a fine of 10 million won ($10,700).

Kim had faced a range of charges including embezzlement and accounting fraud, but it was not immediately clear on what charges he was convicted Friday.

The sentence was less severe than a lower-court ruling in May, when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Kim was indicted in June last year on charges of multi-trillion won (multibillion dollar) accounting fraud, illegal financing and diverting funds out of the country. He was also accused of embezzlement and breach of trust.

Kim fled the country in 1999, living mostly in France, until returning to South Korea last June to face charges.

Kim started as a textile salesman in 1967, building an empire that came to stand among the largest conglomerates, or "chaebol," in South Korea.

Daewoo collapsed under massive debts in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, when the South Korean government was forced to accept a $58 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.

Parts of Daewoo were broken up and sold, with Detroit-based General Motors Corp. acquiring a major stake in Daewoo Motor to create GM Daewoo in 2002.