SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) — Choi Won-suk, ex-chairperson of the now-defunct Dong-Ah Group, passed away from a chronic illness on Wednesday. He was 80.
The son of Dong-Ah Group originator Choi Joon-moon, he had assisted in the development of the construction-centered group into one of the country’s top 10 business conglomerates in the 1980s.
Under his direction, the group accepted a series of construction projects in the Middle East, including the Great Man-Made River Project in Libya in 1983.
Unfortunately, the group encountered problems in 1994 after the deadly collapse of a bridge constructed by the group’s primary construction unit.
Dong-Ah also had serious liquidity problems in 1998 when South Korea was hit by a financial crisis.
Dong-Ah was declared bankrupt in 2001 after the bankruptcy of its major affiliate Dong-Ah Construction Industrial.
This file photo shows Choi Won-suk, former chairman of the now-defunct Dong-Ah Group. (Yonhap)
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