By Vitaly KNIAZHANSKY, The Day
Mutual recriminations could finish Ukrainian-Korean cooperation. Last week
Serhiy Soboliev, a leader of the Reforms and Order Party (PRP), who openly
supported Daewoo after the latter came to Ukraine, told a press conference
about numerous claims against the Korean side.
In particular, they have not fulfilled one of the main terms for cooperation,
to market at least 50% of the cars produced by the joint venture outside
Ukraine.
Chairman of the AvtoZAZ-Daewoo board of directors Oleksandr Sotnykov
is quoted by UNIAN as having accused Daewoo Motors Vice President Wang
of having no right to order suspension of production at AvtoZAZ-Daewoo,
as a result of which the venture has incurred 12 million hryvnias in losses
since the beginning of the year.
Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko in fact also talked anti-Korean
at a meeting of the Industrial Policy Ministry board.
He said the joint venture would survive as long as board of directors
chairman Sotnykov stood firm in defending Ukraine's interests.
One of the main Korean demands is to completely change the joint venture's
management. "Mr. Sotnykov, chairman of the board, quite recently maliciously
stated that Daewoo prices were too high and that the Tavriya had a negative
image as a car with countless quality-related problems. Have you ever heard
of company managers who run down their own products and try to tarnish
the reputation of their own enterprises?" Mr. Chou, representing the Korean
firm's management, stated in an interview with The Day.
The Daewoo executive also confirmed that "prices for Daewoo automobiles
have never been too high, and groundless accusations to this effect seem
to testify to an international conspiracy to compromise the reputation
of Daewoo and AvtoZAZ-Daewoo."
Manager of Winner Ford Ukraine Oleksandr Timofeyev told The Day
he had heard nothing about any such conspiracy and was very dubious about
its existence.
According to Mr. Soboliev, AvtoZAZ-Daewoo workers were issued leaflets
on March 1 calling upon them to come out against the Ukrainian side in
exchange for guaranteed jobs. Mr. Soboliev does not rule it out that, should
the conflict continue, the Ukrainian party may resort to imposing fines
on the Koreans. And if Daewoo cuts its investment in the project, PRP will
introduce a parliamentary resolution to cancel the joint venture's privileges.






