Korean law firm Yulchon has added two former prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (SCDPO), Wook Jin Rha (L) and Woo Young Choe, as partners in its dispute resolution practice.
Rha and Choe both started their career as prosecutors in 2004 and were most recently director prosecutors in the SCDPO.
Rha, who joins Yulchon’s global white-collar division, most recently served as director of the international crime investigation department at the SCDPO. He has experience working on international crime investigations, defence acquisitions, international arbitrations, customs and immigration matters and cryptocurrency-related investigations.
Choe has a strong track record in corporate, financial, and public office corruption investigations. He was most recently the director of the SCDPO’s Criminal Division 5, which focuses on environment and transportation matters.
“Financial crime, virtual asset/blockchain is of strategic importance to the firm as a practice that remains in high demand in line with the Prosecution’s recently strengthened investigation (following the establishment of Joint Investigation Division on Financial/Securities Crimes and Virtual Assets) as well as the revised financial investment services and capital markets coming in to effect,” said Yong Pyo Yeom, co-head of Yulchon’s dispute resolution group, in a statement.
Rha and Choe’s hires are part of the firm’s planned expansion of its dispute resolution practice. The firm hired international arbitration partner Eun Nyung Lee from local firm KL Partners.
Yulchon also hired partner Jooyup Chae, who was previously the top lawyer at Korean biotechnology company SK Biopharmaceuticals, to its dispute resolution practice earlier this year.
The firm has also looked to hire more attorneys with government experience. Choe and Rha’s hiring follows the addition of antitrust partner Yoon Hwan Hwang, who was previously an attorney at the Korean Fair Trade Commission.
