SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jeena Kim, Kyunghwan Lee, Eunyoung Row and Bochan Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC
of its investigations is limited to offences that were specifically designated for the office to address upon its establishment, such as cor - ruption-related crimes (eg, bribery). Other Administrative Agencies For investigation of violations of anti-corruption law in certain specific industries (such as the pharmaceuticals industry), the prosecution may also form a joint task force with the relevant administrative agencies (eg, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). 7.3 Jurisdictional Reach of Enforcement Bodies The jurisdictions of the prosecutor’s office and the police in this context are the same as with respect to their reach under criminal law. The BAI supervises the duties of administrative agencies and public officials. The ACRC is responsible for preventing corruption in public officials, public institutions and non-profit private organisa - tions. The Corruption Investigation Office has the authority to investigate and prosecute high- ranking public officials and their families. See 7.2 Enforcement Bodies . 7.4 Discretion for Mitigation and Aggravation Deferred prosecution agreements and non-pros - ecution agreements are not available in South Korea. Whether or not to prosecute the defend - ant falls to the prosecutors’ discretion, and there is no statutory mechanism to allow negotiation or consultation with the defendant regarding whether to prosecute such defendant. 7.5 Recent Landmark Investigations or Decisions In 2016, South Korea underwent a major politi - cal and social scandal, commonly referred to as the “Choi Soon-sil Gate”, where former Presi -
dent Park Geun-hye and her close confidante were implicated in significant abuses of power. This scandal ended with the impeachment and removal of President Park. During the scandal, investigations revealed that top executives from major domestic conglom - erates, allegedly under Presidential pressure, provided financial contributions to sports teams and cultural foundations associated with the President’s confidante. The independent coun - sel determined that these contributions consti - tuted acts of bribery aimed at securing business favours, and subsequently charged the impli - cated parties with offences including bribery, embezzlement and perjury. The legal proceedings concerning the forego - ing extended over approximately four years, during which both the President and corporate leaders were convicted of bribery. The case had profound societal repercussions, intensifying public demand for ethical corporate practices and underscoring the necessity of robust com - pliance frameworks within large corporations, as evidenced by the scrutiny and reforms prompted during the trials. 7.6 Level of Sanctions Imposed Korean investigative and enforcement authori - ties are adopting a strong approach towards combating bribery. Once investigative leads are obtained, there is a high likelihood of indictment, and when bribery and corruption are proven, the courts impose substantial penalties for these crimes. See 5.1 Penalties on Conviction with respect to specific legal penalties.
390 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook