Hyundai chairman's sentence suspended

A Korean appeals court has ruled that the chairman of carmaker Hyundai, who was convicted of embezzling company funds, will not go to prison. Chung Mong-Koo's original sentence of three years in jail was suspended. Mr Chung had continued to run the Korean automaker after release on bail; investors had worried any absence could hurt the company's expansion plans in Korea and abroad. The Hyundai Motor Group chairman's legal troubles made headlines in the Czech Republic due to the construction of a new Hyundai factory in northern Moravia. The project, representing a 1.1 billion euro investment, began earlier this year. Once fully-operational, the plant is expected to manufacture 300,000 cars annually and to employ around 3,500 workers.