Seoul - Six months after receiving a pardon, the former head of South Korea's failed conglomerate Daewoo, Kim Woo Choong, appeared before court again Wednesday to face fresh charges.

The state prosecutor said the 71-year-old was facing charges of embezzling 115 billion won (115 million dollars), which was then allegedly hidden in shares under false names.

The sum is a mere fraction of the 18 trillion won that Kim has to pay back from previous charges of embezzlement.

The former model manager was arrested two years ago for fraud, falsification of balance sheets and other offences and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In November 2006, an appeals court reduced the sentence to 8.5 years.

As part of a special amnesty, Kim, whose sentence had already been postponed at the end of 2006 owing to ill health, was pardoned at the end of 2007.

The Daewoo Group, which was once the second largest conglomerate in South Korea, collapsed at the end of the 1990s under debts of 80 billion dollars. (dpa)