Press Coverage

The crime of impunity against doctors, which cannot be punished if the victim of the stalking crime does not want it, will be abolished. However, as concerns arise about false accusations, the importance of first response is increasing. According to the legal community on the 11th, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly recently passed a bill to amend the Act on Punishment of Stalking Crimes (Stalking Punishment Act), which aims to abolish the crime of impunity against doctors and establish new types of online stalking acts. The amendment also includes provisions defining the act of sending voice, text, photo, or video messages using social networking services (SNS) as a type of stalking crime. In addition, providing, distributing, or posting the other person's personal information and location information to a third party, or impersonating the other person by stealing their identity, is also clearly defined as stalking. With the abolition of the crime of impunity against a doctor, perpetrators will no longer be able to commit secondary stalking crimes or retaliatory crimes under the pretext of agreement. Although the problem of withdrawing complaints due to pressure from the perpetrator has been resolved, there are concerns that false accusations may follow. For example, in a case that occurred in Gyeongbuk last year, suspect A met accuser B at a gathering of acquaintances and continued an affair. Then, when the affair was discovered, Mr. A asked Mr. B to help him avoid divorce. However, Mr. A divorced, and after that, Mr. B continued to try to contact Mr. A. When Mr. A did not respond, Mr. B filed a complaint, claiming that the messages and phone calls he had shared with Mr. A in the past were stalking. This case is a violation of the stalking punishment law in which the victim, Mr. A, actually became a suspect. If the crime of impunity against a doctor is applied, there is a possibility that the case will have to go to trial even if an agreement is reached with the victim. However, due to a careful initial response, the case did not proceed to the trial stage and ended with a non-indictment. Therefore, with the abolition of the crime of impunity against a doctor, the initial response to prove innocence in such false accusations is expected to become more important. Daeryun Law Firm, which defended Mr. A at the time, said, “Even if victims of stalking maintain their intention to punish during the investigation stage, they often express their intention not to be punished during the trial,” adding, “It is expected that secondary offenses will be prevented with the abolition of the crime of impunity against a doctor, but there are concerns that the mental pain of suspects who have been falsely accused will be significant.” He added, "Like the previous case, it is expected that it will be important to establish at the police investigation stage that the suspect's actions were justified and that this action did not cause anxiety or fear in the other party, so that the initial response is carried out so that the case does not proceed to the trial stage." View full article - Stalking punishment law 'non-punishment for anti-doctors' abolished... concerns over false accusations

A person in his 20s who participated in the 'Real Prosecutor Challenge' following a notice from the management of the Telegram 'Dr. Bang', which distributed sexual exploitation of minors, was acquitted in the appeals court. This is the result of overturning the first trial conviction. The real-time search challenge is to rank a portal site's real-time trending search terms, and the doctor's room management has instructed the victim's name to be searched as a keyword to rank for search terms. The 4-1 Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court acquitted defendant A, who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on Sexual Protection of Children and Adolescents (distributing and displaying pornography for children and adolescents) in December last year. According to the court, Mr. A followed the instructions of the doctor's room operator Jo Joo-bin and others for the 'real-examination challenge' in order to attract an unspecified number of people to the doctor's room. Mr. A searched the victim's name at a specific time, ranked it as a real-time trending search term on the portal site, and facilitated the distribution and display of pornography for children and adolescents. At the time, the doctor's room management ordered the promotion of the real test challenge and link for promotional purposes. It is known that the participants participated to achieve the target number of cumulative chats, and Mr. A also searched related keywords several times. Defendant A denied the charges, saying that all he had done was search the doctor's room's Real Exam Challenge keyword a few times and that he had not contributed to the event. The court ruled in favor of defendant A. The court said, "The evidence presented by the prosecutor alone is insufficient to evaluate that the defendant's act of searching the victim's name in the search box of an Internet portal site made a realistic contribution to the chat room and the promotion, distribution and display of pornography using children and adolescents about the victim." The prosecution immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. The prosecution argued that there was a clear causal relationship between the defendant's search actions and the criminals' actions of distributing sexually exploitative materials. On the other hand, defendant A's position is that "there is no causal relationship between the act of entering search terms and the distribution acts of regular criminals," and "since it was not ranked in the actual search ranking, it is not related to the increase in participation in the doctor's room." Daeryun Law Firm (Yuhan), representing Mr. A, argued, “It cannot be said that the defendant’s act of entering search terms was promoted to an unspecified number of people or was introduced into the doctor’s room,” and “It cannot be said that the determination of the criminals to commit crimes related to the distribution and display of pornography using children and adolescents has been strengthened.” Meanwhile, whether or not to recognize the causal relationship is up to the Supreme Court. In particular, after the Doctor's Room incident and the N Room incident, it was revised to sentence only imprisonment without a fine for producing, distributing, purchasing, possessing, or viewing sexually exploitative materials targeting children and adolescents. Therefore, this ruling is attracting attention. View full article  Aju Economic Daily - Not guilty on appeal for participating in the doctor's room real-time search challenge... ‘Final decision’ lies in the hands of the Supreme Court  Habien News - Nth room doctor’s room ‘Real Prosecution Challenge’ found not guilty on appeal… Is it up to Dafa?

“We have grown into one of the top 12 law firms in Korea, but we will go beyond the Korean market and become a global law firm.” These are the words of CEO Jeong Chan-woo (41, 8th bar examination), who leads Daeryun, which has grown into Korea's 12th largest law firm in the five years since its establishment. Representative attorney Jeong is a rare law school graduate among the management representatives of major domestic law firms. He passed the bar exam in 2019 and rose to the position of head four years later. It is even more unusual in that he is a general management representative who is responsible for overall management beyond the representative attorney commonly used within a law firm. Daeryun Law Firm was established in Jinju in March 2018. It was founded by CEO Jae-guk Shim (42, 2nd term), who was in charge of management before CEO Jeong. The following year, offices were opened in Busan and Seoul, and the company expanded rapidly and currently has 32 offices nationwide. As of the end of April, 137 Korean lawyers were affiliated. Based on the number of lawyers, it is the 12th largest in the country. As of June, there are 165 people. According to Daeryun, last year’s sales were close to 35 billion won. Representative Attorney Jeong has led the growth of Daeryun from the beginning of its establishment, keeping pace with CEO Sim. Representative Attorney Jeong said, "In the beginning, CEO Shim and I traveled around the country to find offices and recruit. It took 4 to 5 years just to lay the foundation for the law firm. We focused on providing uniform services and prices." He emphasized Daeryun’s unique system. Representative Attorney Jeong explained, "The systems that support our law firm are largely divided into two. They are the 'customer management system' and the 'case management system,'" adding, "We actively adopt online marketing to promote ourselves to customers and collaborate using messengers and work tools." He continued, "A strong system is important to manage offices across the country. Although we are a latecomer, we have actively reflected the changes of the times, such as digital systems, to lead the market." We focused on reorganizing the system and maximizing the capabilities of our members. This is because I believe that the success or failure of a law firm depends on its members. Representative lawyer Jeong said, "There is no seniority system at Daeryun. We do not give important positions just because of high rank. We promote members who understand Daeryun's system well and deliver good results and assign them to important positions such as director." He continued, "We tried to improve the treatment of lawyers as much as possible. Daeryun's basic salary for a first-year new lawyer is 93.6 million won before tax, and when performance bonuses and allowances are added, it approaches 100 million won. Performance bonuses are paid according to Daeryun's own standards, and an overall flexible work system is implemented. The satisfaction level is quite high for lawyers who are raising children." Long-term service is also encouraged through positions divided into general, senior, responsible, chief, general manager, and chief general manager, and bonuses and sabbatical leave paid to those with 3 years of service. Lastly, Representative Attorney Jeong emphasized ‘next level.’ He expressed his ambition, saying, "The theme of the workshop we recently held was Next Level. Now that we have achieved growth in terms of scale and sales, it is important to take a leap to the next level. We will solidify our specialized areas such as corporate legal affairs and strengthen Daeryun's brand image to achieve a new level of growth." View full article - [Interview] Chan-Woo Jeong, Managing Director, Daeryun Law Firm

[Anchor] Voice phishing crime methods are becoming increasingly diverse. The organization caught this time approached people who had failed to invest in stocks by deceiving themselves as the Financial Supervisory Service and said they would 'compensate for their losses.' The victims, whose ears perked up, were dragged along as these gang members told them to do, and were robbed of a large amount of money worth around 2 billion won. Reporter Kim Se-young reports. [Report] Police officers storm into an office in Gangnam, Seoul. There are cubicle desks lined up, and the employees' work performance is written on the wall in 'bareuljeong' characters. This is a voice phishing crime scene. The group targeted members of a famous investment advisory firm. They selected members who had recently suffered investment losses and approached them, pretending to be members of the 'Damage Compensation Team' who were not even affiliated with the Financial Supervisory Service. [Han Young-jun/victim's legal representative/lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm (Limited)] "'Currently, the Financial Supervisory Service is in progress of a loss recovery program,' and 'The more you invest, the more damage you can recover from the Financial Supervisory Service.'" The gang lured the victims by promising that they would return a larger amount of famous virtual currency if they sent money to their account. He then sent me a link telling me to download the cryptocurrency wallet app. Once they confirmed that actual virtual currency had been received through the app, the victims relaxed their guard. The gang even handed over the personal information requested, saying it was ‘necessary for currency exchange’. But the virtual currency was fake. The gang used the personal information they obtained to obtain loans in the victims' names and intercept them. [Lieutenant Kim Yong-seop/Investigation Team 2, Namyangju Southern Police Station, Gyeonggi Province] “We will compensate investment reading room subscribers with coins. What’s unusual about this approach is that they also receive damages in real coins to avoid tracking (financial authorities).” The crime that made the victims cry twice continued for nearly a year while avoiding the authorities' pursuit, and so far there have been 72 victims and the damage amounted to 2.6 billion won. The police confirmed that there were tens of thousands of names on the list of investors used by this group to commit the crime, and are expanding the investigation as they believe there are more victims. The police arrested 14 members of a voice phishing organization and detained 7 people, including the leader, a woman in her 30s, and are also investigating how the list of investment advisors was leaked. This is Seyoung Kim from MBC News. View full article - The Financial Supervisory Service will compensate for ‘investment losses’? ‥ Stock investors who believed were robbed of 2 billion won

The company's headquarters filed 22 complaints, including malpractice, against branches operated under an independent property system, but all cases were closed with a decision not to forward or indict at the investigation stage. According to Daeryun Law Firm on the 22nd, the main details of the case are as follows. The suspect's company was merged with a stock company under the condition of merging while establishing a new corporation. However, as a conflict arose, it was agreed that the suspect would take charge of Branch A and operate it as an independent property system, that is, as a separate corporation. Sales and profits were accounted for separately from the head office, but the company head office experienced financial difficulties and Branch A, which was in charge of the suspect, saw an increase in sales. Accordingly, the head office claimed that the company had caused billions of won in damages through accounts receivables, paybacks, etc., and filed 22 lawsuits against the suspects, including embezzlement and breach of trust. Rather, the suspect complained that he had suffered damages worth billions of won from the initial transfer and acquisition of the business. At the police investigation stage, 21 cases were not forwarded, and one case was not indicted without charges a week after being forwarded to the prosecution. The competent prosecutor's office said, “According to the data provided by the suspect's lawyer, it can be seen that an appropriate remittance was made and an appropriate tax invoice was issued accordingly,” and “It is difficult to acknowledge the fact of the suspect based solely on the plaintiff's speculative claims, and there is no sufficient evidence to otherwise acknowledge the fact of the suspect.” Daeryun Law Firm, which represented the suspect, explained, “A lawyer who was a senior prosecutor in the special department personally attended the investigation and accompanied the case from the beginning, responding to statements,” and added, “There seemed to be a problem with the suspect arbitrarily using the company’s sales and profits, but since he did not use the company’s sales and profits for his own purposes and used them to run the branch, he actively argued that there was no intention to illegally obtain the money, and it appears that he was able to get an acquittal.” View full article - 22 cases of breach of trust, including breach of trust, were acquitted... how was it possible

Sexual crimes are representative violent crimes and refer to a series of criminal acts that violate the physical and sexual freedom of others and cause sexual shame or discomfort. They range from face-to-face sexual crimes such as rape, quasi-rape, and forcible harassment to digital sex crimes committed online. These sex crimes are severely punished under the Criminal Act and the Sexual Assault Act, but if the person who committed the crime is not an ordinary person but a government official working for the country, separate administrative measures will be imposed in addition to criminal punishment. According to the National Civil Service Act, which was revised in 2019, if a public official is sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more for a sex crime, he or she will be subject to retirement or disqualification from appointment. ‘Sexual violence crimes’ as defined in Article 2 of the ‘Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes’ are strongly restricted from being appointed as public officials if a fine of more than 1 million won is imposed. In addition, even if a person commits a ‘crime of distributing, selling or displaying pornography online’ rather than a face-to-face crime, if he or she is fined more than 1 million won as a ‘crime of sexual violence’, he or she cannot be appointed as a public official for three years. In this way, if a state civil servant is sentenced to a fine of more than 1 million won for a sex crime, it is a natural reason for retirement. However, if the victim is a minor rather than an adult, the zero tolerance principle is applied and the person is permanently expelled from public office, and the appointment of civil servants is restricted. Additionally, sexual crimes committed by state officials do not end with administrative measures against the individual perpetrator. If the head of an agency that has received a report of a sexual crime fails to take appropriate measures to prevent the possibility of concealing or condoning the incident or systematically attempts to cover up the problem, a personnel audit will be conducted by the Ministry of Personnel Management. If a problem is discovered, the name of the organization and related facts will be announced on the Ministry of Personnel Management website for at least three months. Kim Seong-ik, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm (Lihan), advised, "Allegations of sexual crimes by public officials are treated seriously and require both sides to respond, not only through criminal measures but also administrative measures. Therefore, it is best to seek legal assistance from a criminal and administrative lawyer with as much experience in handling related cases as possible." View full article - National civil servant administrative disposition fine for sexual offenses exceeds 1 million won, retirement... What are the criteria for permanent expulsion?

In Korea, there are many retired soldiers who were deployed in the Vietnam War and were injured or suffering from aftereffects. Among them, there are quite a few cases where patient registration has been refused in relation to compensation for damage caused by Agent Orange, and the problem has not yet been resolved. Agent Orange refers to a herbicide that is fired to kill trees. It is a highly toxic chemical weapon used in the Vietnam War. It contains a hazardous substance called dioxin, which is more toxic than cyanide. People who have been harmed by Agent Orange need to receive sufficient compensation and focus on treatment because the aftereffects have not yet gone away easily and have a significant impact on their daily lives. Therefore, if patient registration is denied, there is a high possibility that it will lead to an Agent Orange administrative lawsuit. If you are a victim of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, you need to be prepared to legally explain your damages and then prepare for an Agent Orange administrative lawsuit. You must check whether you meet the standards to be recognized as a person suffering from the aftereffects of Agent Orange, and submit objective supporting documents so that you can be assessed a disability level. If you want to receive some relief from the physical and mental pain caused by Agent Orange, you can receive compensation for damage caused by Agent Orange from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, but the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs is likely to disapprove this. Therefore, it is important to seek rights by raising objections and contesting the effectiveness of the disposition through administrative trials and defoliant administrative litigation. Attorney Lee Il-kwon of Daeryun Law Firm (Lihan) advised, “If you are a victim of Agent Orange, you must register as a patient to receive not only financial compensation but also various social help, so you should not give up on this.” He added, “You must actively seek legal solutions to resolve the problem with a military lawyer.” He added, “No matter how long it has been since the war ended, we must ensure that our rights are properly protected by law.” View full article - Military refusal to register patients suffering from Agent Orange aftereffects, seeking legitimate rights through administrative litigation

Law school graduates leading law firms in their 20s have appeared. They go beyond simply being named as CEO and lead the corporation as general managers. Law school graduates, who were once considered young lawyers, are creating new legal trends by rising to the top of major law firms in their 20s. At Daeryun Law Firm, the 12th largest law firm in Korea, lawyer Jeong Chan-woo (41, passed the 8th bar exam) took the position of general management representative. He, who had been active as Daeryun's representative attorney, began his term as the head of management on the 22nd of last month. As of April 30, Daeryun had 137 Korean lawyers. Based on the number of lawyers, it is the 12th largest in the country. As of June 7, it is showing rapid growth, with 158 Korean lawyers. Daeryun, founded in March 2018 by lawyer Shim Jae-guk (42, 2nd class), handles many cases in the criminal, divorce, and labor fields. It is specialized in the criminal field to the extent of operating a criminal specialty center. It is classified as a network law firm like YK and Roel in that it promotes itself as a single law firm, opens branch offices in major locations across the country, and maintains an organic cooperation system. Following Attorney Shim Jae-guk, Attorney Jeong Chan-woo, who leads Daeryun, has handled a wide range of cases in the civil and criminal fields, including professional negligence manslaughter, coin fraud, and fraudulent act cancellation lawsuits. He also worked as a criminal public defender at the Supreme Court and the Busan District Court. Currently, Daeryun has 15 ‘Chief Attorneys’, meaning representative attorneys. Among them, in addition to lawyers Chan-Woo Jeong and Jae-Guk Shim, lawyers Byung-Jun Ko (49, 9th episode) and Park Dong-il (37, 8th episode) also graduated from law school. View full article - ‘Law school graduate’ representative lawyer… Leading the ‘Top 20s Law Firm’

Public rental housing is housing pursuant to Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Housing Act that is supplied for the purpose of conversion to sale after being leased or leased pursuant to Article 2, Paragraph 1 (a) of the Special Act on Public Housing. After the mandatory rental period has passed, it can be converted to sale with approval, and tenants who meet certain requirements can be given priority for conversion to sale. If a defect occurs in public rental housing, according to Articles 36 and 37 of the Apartment Housing Management Act, the tenant, etc. may request compensation for the defect from the project operator. In the past, tenants of public rental housing before conversion to sale did not have the right to demand repairs for defects from construction companies, even though they actually held the right to conversion to sale. With the new establishment of Article 36, Paragraph 2 of the former Apartment Housing Management Act (before it was amended by Act No. 14853 on February 10, 2018), it became possible to exercise the right to claim defect repairs for the first time. The fact that tenants of public rental housing can request repairs for defects is a welcome development in terms of tenant protection. However, when public rental housing is converted to sale, there is a problem in that the project entity's liability for defects is extended for an excessively long period of time, resulting in unreasonable results. According to Article 9-2 of the old Multi-unit Building Act (before it was revised by Act No. 12738 on June 3, 2014), ‘the exclusion period for defect repair claims shall be calculated from the date of delivery to the unit owner for the exclusive use portion, and from the date of use inspection or approval for use for the shared portion.’ This regulation shall enter into force six months after its promulgation in accordance with Article 1 of the Supplementary Provisions. However, in accordance with Article 3 of the Supplementary Provisions, the previous provisions shall apply with respect to collateral liability for buildings sold before the enforcement of the above Act. Therefore, the starting date for the exclusive portion of public rental housing sold after June 19, 2013 is the date of delivery to the first unit owner after conversion to sale. The project entity already had an obligation to repair defects to tenants even before conversion to sale pursuant to Article 36, Paragraph 2 of the old Apartment Housing Management Act (before it was amended by Act No. 14853 on February 10, 2018). In the end, due to the new Article 9-2 of the old Apartment Building Act, it is no different from having the lessee again bear the same defect warranty liability for a building that has been used for a long time as for a newly sold building. From the business entity's perspective, they have no choice but to complain because they will be burdened with compensation obligations for an excessively long period of time. In relation to this, some project entities argue that even after public rental housing is converted to sale, the starting date of the exclusive defect liability period should be regarded as the time of ‘first delivery after construction.’ This is based on the Supreme Court's decision in May 10, 2012, 2011Da66610, etc., which ruled that “even in the case of a complex building converted to sale after lease, the exclusion period for defects liability will be said to start from the time the complex building is delivered by lease, not from the time of sale conversion.” The above Supreme Court decision states, “The proviso to Article 671, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Act, which is applied mutatis mutandis to Article 9 of the Act on the Ownership and Management of Old Apartment Buildings (before it was amended by Act No. 7502 on May 26, 2005), uniformly sets the exclusion period for defect security liability to 10 years after ‘delivery’ without considering the type of defect or the time of occurrence of the defect. Article 9 of the former Apartment Building Act and the Civil Act “In light of the provisions of Articles 667 to 671, it is reasonable to interpret the above ‘delivery’ as meaning ‘the first delivery after construction,’ regardless of the causal relationship of the delivery.” However, this court's opinion is that after Article 9-2 of the old Apartment Building Act (before it was revised on June 3, 2014, Act No. 12738) was newly established, the Supreme Court's 2018Da245184 decision on April 29, 2020, etc. states that “in the case of units converted to sale, the date of delivery to the unit owner” in Article 9-2, Paragraph 2, Item 1 of the Revised Apartment Building Act The meaning appears to have naturally changed as the ruling was made to the effect that “it is appropriate to interpret the meaning as ‘the date when occupation began as a unit owner’ rather than ‘the date of first delivery as a lessee.’” In the future, it is expected that the conflict between project entities and subdivision owners surrounding public rental housing for the purpose of conversion to pre-sale will further intensify. A total of 74,574 houses are scheduled to be converted to sale after public rental for 10 years from 2019. There is an increasing number of cases requesting repair of defects in public rental housing that has been converted to sale to the Defect Review Dispute Mediation Committee established in accordance with Article 39 of the Apartment Housing Management Act. The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Board of Audit and Inspection are also aware of this problem. There is a need to revise related laws, including Article 9-2 of the Apartment Building Act, as soon as possible. View full article - Controversy over defect warranty liability period for public leases converted to sale [Special contribution]

On the 7th, the Daegu-area parents' group, Right Parents' Association, announced on the 7th that it signed a business agreement with Daeryun Law Firm on the 31st of last month to provide support and cooperation for parents or students who have been harmed in legal disputes related to children and youth. This agreement was prepared with the purpose of making it easier for parents or students affected by school violence, juvenile protection cases, etc. to receive legal support services by overcoming the difficult barriers of the legal field. The main contents included ▷counseling support related to school violence, ▷provision of legal services to family members of Right Parents Association members, and ▷mutual joint marketing plan. Cho Seung-hyun, chairman of the Righteous Parents Association, said, "I would like to thank Daeryun Law Firm for actively supporting and willingly allowing the hotline counseling service," and added, "I hope that we will continue to think together about ways to contribute to public interest projects and the local community." View full article Maeil Newspaper - Righteous Parents Association and Daeryun Law Firm signed an MOU for cooperation in legal disputes related to children and youth Beyond Post - Daeryun Law Firm (Lihan) signed an MOU for business cooperation with Right Parents Association