Leniency for the Tycoon

What a phrase. And what a fighter!

A South Korean tycoon on trial in a sensational assault case said Monday he punched bar workers after his son was hurt in a scuffle, but denied using a steel pipe and stun gun.

"I delivered several hooks," Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn said under questioning by the prosecution at Seoul central District Court, using boxing terminology to describe the punches.

Clad in sky blue jail garb, Kim, one of South Korea's richest men, said he chose the description for the punches because he was once head of South Korea's amateur boxing association.

Kim said it was he himself who "mainly beat" about half a dozen bar workers, although he added that his bodyguards were involved later, when "I got tired."

Well hell yes! When you get tired, you've got to have your minions step in, to do at least some of the ass-kicking.

Among charges the tycoon faces are illegal detainment and assault with dangerous objects over the alleged revenge attack after a March altercation at a Seoul karaoke club with his 22-year-old son, Kim Dong-won, a student at Yale University.

[. . .]

The dramatic details of the case, which media have likened to something out of a gangster movie, have drawn intense public interest in South Korea, where the heads of family controlled conglomerates wield great economic, political and social clout.

At one point Kim told the packed courtroom that he lightly hit one of the workers on the head with a steel pipe to scare them. He later retracted the statement and denied using a stun gun.

Kim's lawyers said the attack was not organized or premeditated in nature, and called for leniency for the tycoon. They said his prolonged absence from management could cause a crisis at the conglomerate.

And if anybody deserves a little leniency now and then, surely it's the head of a family-controlled conglomerate?

And while we're in Hanguk . . . what do you think your first public statement would be after finally getting the hell out of the world's most backward state?

A North Korean family of four arrived in South Korea on Saturday after leaving Japan, where they landed two weeks ago after a rare boat voyage from the communist country.

The family - a couple and their two adult sons - arrived at the international airport in Incheon wearing hats and covering their faces with masks.

"Liberty, democracy, human rights!" yelled one of the North Koreans at an airport gate, before airport security officials escorted the group away.

He couldn't hold it in; he had to shout it! Loud and proud.

Finally, ever wonder what W's Secret-Service codename is? Here's a hint: It fits, and on multiple levels.