The head of a major South Korean conglomerate, the Hanwha Group, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in jail for the beating of a group of bar workers involved in a previous fight with his 22-year-old son.

Convictions of business leaders for white collar crimes are commonplace in South Korea; Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor, is due to find out the result next week of his appeal of a February three-year sentence on embezzlement and other charges. But the Hanwha case has drawn extraordinary attention in South Korea because of the physical violence involved.