Prosecutors officially confirm death of former Jinro chairman in China

Prosecutors officially confirm death of former Jinro chairman in China. June. 15, 2015 07:05. bjk@donga.com.

Korean prosecution has confirmed the death of former Jinro Group Chairman Jang Jin-ho (photo) who is known to be dead at the age of 62 in China in early April.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutor`s Office officially confirmed the death of Jang on Sunday. It has been known that Jang died of heart attack at his house in Beijing on April 3 on his overseas exile. It is reported that the Korean prosecution has ended the case with "no right of arraignment due to the death of the suspect."

In early April when his death was reported by local medial, prosecutors started verification of the facts to process a case where Jang was a suspect. However, Jang’s death was not recorded in his Family Relation Certificate, as his Korean nationality was lost after he acquired the Cambodian nationality in 2005 when he became a suspect of another criminal case. Some raised doubts that Jang’s death was faked.

The prosecution has finally confirmed Jang’s death after obtaining a death certificate, which was issued by the Chinese hospital where Jang died and notarized by the Chinese Embassy, and testimony of a legal officer at the Embassy of Korea in China. “It took some time to confirm Jang’s death as he had changed his nationality and name,” said an official in the prosecutors’ office.

Prosecutors closed a criminal case Tuesday as "no right of arraignment," where Jang was charged with breach of duty by sending 80 billion Korean won (approx. 71.84 million U.S. dollars) from Jinro`s Japan branch office to Jinro Geumgang International in Hong Kong without any collateral or security in 1995. Other three cases where Jang was involved are expected to be closed with "no right of arraignment" in the near future.