[BizHanKook] It has been confirmed that Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu) relocated its headquarters to Building 216 of Apartment Complex A in Daejang-dong this September. However, a site inspection revealed that there is no Building 216 in the complex. It is possible that the building designation recorded in the documents differs from the name used in reality, or that the address was recorded incorrectly. Regardless of the reason, it was impossible to confirm on-site that Hwacheon Daeyu maintains its headquarters at Apartment Complex A. Among the apartment residents, it was also difficult to find anyone aware of the existence of a Hwacheon Daeyu headquarters.
The current headquarters address for Hwacheon Daeyu as listed in the corporate registry is ‘B1, Unit 1-G05, Building 216 (neighborhood living facility), [address redacted], Daejang-dong, Apartment Complex A, 2nd Complex.’ Apartment Complex A’s 2nd complex is known to be a project where Hwacheon Daeyu entrusted development tasks to Hana Asset Trust. According to the real estate registry, the owner of B1, Unit 1-G05, Building 216 of Apartment Complex A’s 2nd complex, which is listed as the headquarters address, remains Hana Asset Trust.
BizHankook visited the 2nd complex of Apartment Complex A on October 30. However, Building 216 could not be found within the complex. We looked for the shopping area of the 2nd complex but could not find an access path to a basement level. Nowhere in the 2nd complex could we identify an office or signage for Hwacheon Daeyu. A security guard for the 2nd complex explained, “(Apartment Complex A’s 2nd complex) only has buildings 201 through 208, and there is no Building 216,” adding, “The shopping center only has facilities on the ground floor, and there is no basement level.”
However, this address is a space that is confirmed in the registry. We cannot rule out the possibility that the name ‘Building 216’ was assigned during the apartment design or registration process, but a different name is used in practice, or that it was simply recorded incorrectly. At present, it is difficult to determine which space in Apartment Complex A the company is using as its headquarters. BizHankook inquired with nearby residents, but we were unable to find anyone who knew of Hwacheon Daeyu’s existence.
Hwacheon Daeyu’s previous headquarters was an office in a building in Pangyo-dong, Bundang-gu, which it used from October 2023 to September 2026. The owner of the Pangyo-dong office is the F Association, and since Hwacheon Daeyu did not establish any collateral or leasehold rights, the specific details of the lease agreement could not be confirmed.
Hwacheon Daeyu currently appears to have no significant business activities. According to its audit report, the company recorded no revenue last year and posted an operating loss of 1.146 billion won due to various expenditures.
Despite this situation, it has been confirmed that Kim Man-bae was reappointed as an internal director of Hwacheon Daeyu on September 20 of this year. Last October, the court sentenced Kim to eight years in prison and a forfeiture of 42.8 billion won on charges including breach of trust. Kim appealed the decision, and the appellate trial is currently underway.