Former BHC Chairman Park Hyun-jong Indicted for Embezzlement

Park Hyun-jong, the former chairman of BHC, has been transferred to the prosecution after being investigated for embezzlement and breach of trust. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption unit, Park was sent to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office without detention on charges of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The police believe that Park misappropriated hundreds of millions of won from company funds, leading to searches of his residence in Songpa-gu and BHC's headquarters in December 2023. A request for an arrest warrant for Park was submitted in March but was denied by the court.
In addition to the embezzlement charges, Park was also indicted in February for violating the Information and Communications Network Act and the Personal Information Protection Act by accessing the internal network of competitor BBQ using the IDs and passwords of two former employees to steal trade secrets. He received a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, from the Supreme Court.
Park previously served as the vice president in charge of overseas operations at BBQ before moving to BHC after BBQ sold the company to a private equity fund in 2013. He was dismissed from his position as chairman by BHC's parent company, Global Gourmet Services, in November 2023, citing management reform.