Berjaya Corp welcomes South Korea President with plea for justice

Moon Jae-In, President of The Republic of South Korea, is now in KL and busy attending to his packed schedule; interestingly, Berjaya Corporation Group has hopes he can spare a few minutes to check the papers. The Malaysian property conglomerate has put out a newspaper ad that warmly welcomes the Korean President.

Even odder is how the full-page, full colour newsprint doesn’t just carry a simple ‘Welcome to Malaysia’ message. Instead, multiple paragraphs below the hearty and warm welcome greeting delves into its previous investment on Jeju Island.

The text goes:

Berjaya was one of the earliest foreign investors in Jeju, South Korea. In the year 2008, Berjaya invested in a joint venture property and resort development project in Jeju with Jeju Free International City Development Centre (JDC), a wholly-owned unit of the Korean Government.

According to Berjaya Corp, it already invested an excessive amount of funds, claiming it spent up to US$200 million. Things didn’t go as planned and has been shelved. Right now, Berjaya Corp is taking JDC and the Korean Government to task for its losses via legal action.

It then closes the plea by appealing to the culture of justice and good governance of South Korea. Berjaya Corp is confident that Korean’s court system will prosecute a fair trial and come to a just result for its case. This could have been a nice end-mark for the ad.

Berjaya Corp, instead, claims how a fair verdict in its favour will uphold the good image of South Korea; specifically, as a preferred destination to foreign direct investors who are still keen on spending.

Text by: Victor Yap