SK Group on Thursday unveiled its largest-ever investment and recruitment plans just ahead of the prosecution’s announcement of its plan to indict chairman Chey Tae-won without physical detention on embezzlement charges.
The conglomerate said it would more than double investment to 19.1 trillion won ($16.6 billion) including 3.4 trillion won to acquire Hynix Semiconductor and 2.1 trillion won in resource development.

About 10 trillion won will be invested in facilities and another 2 trillion won in research and development, SK Group said in a press release.

In addition to increasing investment by 10 trillion won from last year, the nation’s third largest conglomerate by asset value said it would hire 7,000 people, including 2,100 high school graduates, this year. SK recruited about 5,000 people last year.

SK Group has continued to increase investment in natural resource development since 2004, focusing on its investment in Latin American countries, Middle East and Central Asian nations.

SK’s investment plan came at a time when the nation’s economy is facing uncertainties due to global economic woes stemming from eurozone debt crisis. Some domestic companies are delaying their investment projects because of the gloomy economic outlook for Korea. The Bank of Korea predicted that the Korean economy will likely slow to 3.7 percent in 2012 from 3.8 percent in 2011.

SK’s announcement came shortly after its chairman instructed CEOs of affiliates of the group to promptly normalize management, which reportedly has been hit by the prosecution’s legal action against the chairman.

The group had delayed its annual year-end personnel reshuffle and finalizing of investment plans for 2012.

Chey’s younger brother, vice chairman Jae-won, was imprisoned last week on charges of embezzlement to make up for losses from futures trading.

The Chey brothers have been under prosecutorial investigation for the past six months on allegations that they laundered company money to cover some 200 billion won in losses from futures trading.

The Federation of Korean Industries, a lobbying group representing the nation’s largest businesses, filed a petition to the prosecution last week asking for leniency for Chey.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)