AvtoZAZ-Daewoo First Anniversary Could Be the Last

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.