SEOUL - A top Hyundai Group executive, enmeshed in a payments scandal over a landmark summit between North and South Korea, leapt to his death from his high-rise office building on Monday, police said.

　　Chung Mong-hun, 54, jumped from the 12th floor of the Hyundai building in central Seoul some time after midnight and died at around 2:00am (1700 GMT, Sunday), police told reporters.

　　"I ask you all to forgive me for doing this foolish thing," Chung said in one of several suicide notes found in his office fromswhereshe is believed to have jumped, domestic media said.

　　The fifth son of the late Chung Ju-yung, who founded what was once South Korea's largest business conglomerate, Chung had been facing trial on charges linked to the secret transfer of million to the communist North before a historic June 2000 summit between the South's then-President Kim Dae-jung and the North's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il.

　　President Roh Moo-hyun, who five months ago took over a country faced with a slowing economy and an escalating crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, vowed to push ahead with Chung's work as chairman of unlisted Hyundai Asan Co in promoting ties with North Korea.

　　"Regardless of his death, I will try my best to advance current North-South Korea business projects, which must go forward without interruption," Roh said in a statement.

　　Chung's company issued a statement saying: "He apologized to the Korean people because of the allegations related to the payment of funds from the company to North Korea."

　　Chung had been questioned three times by prosecutors in the last two weeks and was also accused of embezzling 15 billion won (.7 million) in company funds.

　　N. Korea projects

　　A frequent visitor to North Korea, he had requested his ashes be scattered at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort in the NorthswheresHyundai operated ferry tours offering South Koreans a rare chance to visit the communist state, the media said.

　　The "cash-for-summit" scandal, which broke in February, ensnared not only Chung but several top aides to former president Kim Dae-jung.

　　Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his "Sunshine Policy" of reconciliation with the North, but the business deals and other exchanges with the North envisioned at the Pyongyang summit floundered amid diplomatic disputes with Seoul's ally, Washington.

　　Hyundai Asan did break ground in June on a long-delayed million industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong.

　　However, government investigators said million in secret payments were funnelled to North Korea from Hyundai Asan with the help of Kim's aides before the June 2000 summit.

　　At the time, the opposition was in control of parliament and a reconciliation with North Korea - which remains technically at war with the South - was controversial.

　　Hyundai and government officials said million was used for the company to secure monopoly rights for business and tourism ventures in North Korea. But million was sent just days before Kim Dae-jung's landmark handshake with Kim Jong-il.

　　Share prices of Hyundai companies fell on the news of Chung's death, though analysts differed over the impact with some saying his demise could disrupt inter-Korea co-operation while others saw scant effect because much business with the North has been transferred to state-run firms.

　　Hyundai Merchant and Marine and four other listed firms that were under Chung's control fell on average 6 per cent while the broad market finished down 1 per cent.

　　They are among a small group of former Hyundai Group companies that Chung had headed since the conglomerate was splitsintossmaller groups after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

　　Ferry suspended

　　After the suicide, North Korea called a temporary halt to tours from South Korea, as the South's government faced pressure to review business dealings with its communist neighbour.

　　North Korean organizations said they would temporarily halt ferry tours from the South to its Mount Kumgang resort to honour the memory of Hyundai Asan Chairman Chung Mong-hun.

　　Hyundai Asan's ferry tours to Mount Kumgang offered South Koreans a rare chance to visit the northern side of a border closed since the 1950-53 Korean War.

　　Most dailies in Seoul said South Korean aid and investment projects in the North should continue, but with more transparency and accountability.

　　The Chosun Ilbo daily, which has complained that unaudited cash flows subsidize North Korea's military threat to the South, said future dealings must be "based on national consensus, free of personal political motives and transparent".

　　South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his minister in charge of dealing with North Korea have vowed to carry on with the North Korean projects.