A maid found Park Yong-oh hanged with a necktie at his home, an officer at Seoul’s Seongbuk police station said. A suicide note was also found, he said, declining to give his name because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “We believe he committed suicide,” he said. “Nothing suspicious was found that makes us suspect murder.”
The officer refused to disclose the suicide note’s contents. The Yonhap news agency said Park wrote in the seven-page note about financial difficulties involving a new construction firm he headed. The construction firm has no relations with Doosan. Repeated calls to the construction company went unanswered.
Park, 72, had been chief executive of the Doosan Group until a family feud prompted his ouster in 2005. His younger brother, Park Yong-sung, took over as chairman. In 2006, they and two other brothers were convicted of embezzling company funds and received suspended prison terms. Park Yong-sung later received a presidential amnesty, though the other brothers did not, according to the Justice Ministry.
The Doosan Group is one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates, with 15 subsidiaries with operations including construction, food and clothing. Doosan also builds nuclear power plants.
Bobcat Co., a West Fargo, North Dakota-based maker of small loaders and light construction equipment, is owned by Doosan Infracore International, a subsidiary of Doosan Group company Doosan Infracore. Doosan had no comment on Park’s presumed suicide.
