Korea Times Wednesday March 6, 2007 The column is entitled Lex Pro Bono and appears every Wednesday. Can Legalization of Prostitution Work? Dear Professor Sean Hayes:I am puzzled by the fact that prostitution is still rampant in Korea even though supposedly the police havecracked down on prostitution. Has the police trulycracked down on prostitution or is this just a publicrelations ploy? Puzzled Foreigner Dear Puzzled Foreigner: The police have cracked down on the visible and “underground” places of prostitution. However,
Continue readingAuthor: Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean employed as a foreign attorney by the Korean Court System (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a full-time regular member of a Korean law faculty. He is rated a Top Attorney by numerous legal rating agencies and is known for his street-smart advice, candor and aggressive & non-conflicted advocacy.
Sean has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, Money Today, US Today, The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, France 24, Asia Legal Business and other leading news sources.
IPG was, recently, rated a top Dispute Resolution Law Firm and Sean a Top 100 Lawyer for International Law.
Sex Offenders Not So Concerned About Victims’ Looks – Survey
Chosun Ilbo (Translation) March 6, 2007 A survey of convicted sex offenders found that they were more concerned about the possibility of nearby CCTV cameras than they were about their victims’ appearances. According to a doctoral dissertation by Nam Jae-sung of Dongguk University’s Police Administration department, when 272 sex offenders were asked what they were concerned about when committing their crimes, they rated CCTV cameras the most important thing, with an average score of 2.95 out of 4. The other
Continue readingCommunity Sites: a Portal to Crime
ChosunIlbo (translation) March 6, 2007 Some 30 cyber crime investigators from the national Police Agency gathered Monday to discuss the growing threat of crime posed by community sites. Community sites or discussion boards are both a blessing and a curse of the information superhighway. Allowing users to find like-minded people the world over, they also offer new opportunities for crime. Fraud, defamation, gambling, stalking, the sale of drugs and even murder, officers say, are facilitated by the Internet. In a
Continue readingVisa rules to be eased for ethnic Koreans
Korea Herald March 6, 2007 Ethnic Koreans who have overstayed their visa by up to one year will be saved from deportation as the government is planning to issue a newly introduced visa that would extend their legal stay. The government yesterday began receiving applications for the new H-2 visa, which will allow ethnic Koreans from China, Russia and the former Soviet Union states to stay and work in Korea for up to three years on a single-entry basis or
Continue readingThe William Tell of Professors Gives the Court a Johnnie Cochran Like Argument
IF THE RULING DOESN’T SUIT – SHOOT The Sungkyunkwan University professor Kim Myung-ho that William Tell-ed a Judge in mid-January has developed and interesting “if the glove doesn’t fit – acquit” legal strategy for his appeal. The professor is now claiming that he was only acting in self-defense. He claims he is the victim and the judge is the real assailant, since “Wielding the weapon of judicial rulings, the justice system is creating many judicial victims.” So in memory of
Continue readingSong DooHwan Nominated to Con. Court
Song DooHwan was choosen by President Roh on March 2, 2007 to replace retiring Constitutional Court Justice Choo Sun-Hoe. Justice Choo’s term expires at the end of March. Mr. Song is the Representative Partner of Hankyul Law Firm. He graduated from SNU in 1971, the Judicial Research Institute in 1982, was a Judge from 1982 to 1990, Executive Director of the Korean Bar Association from 1996 to 1997, and Independent Counsel in the infamous Remittance of funds to North Korea
Continue readingKorean Prostitution Not a Thing of the Past and Never Will Be
The supposed crackdown on prostitution that commenced in 2004, is said by many to have just run prostitution underground. I still recognize a lot of prostitution not so underground as you can see in the pictures displayed here. The windows on the right side of the photos are cathouses and the men standing in the foreground are police. The cathouses are not closed. The major prostitution areas, the “massage parlors,” the call girls that advertise with little cards with their
Continue readingPolice bust 2 teenage prostitution rings involving runaways
A disturbing report in a Korean language daily states that teenage girls were being forced to have sex with teenage boys. Even more disturbing, a 3rd teenage girl collected the money from the boys in exchange for the sex. Police bust 2 teenage prostitution rings involving runaways (Translation Hankyoreh March 2, 2007) Civic groups say cases underscore need for prevention programs, education Police say that on Feburary 9, a 14-year-old female middle school dropout forced two former classmates, both 14
Continue readingImpolite Language by Prosecutors Banned
Impolite Language by Prosecutors Banned MARCH 01, 2007 08:00 Donga Ilbo (translation) The special interrogation division (director and interrogation division head: Kim Tae-hyeon) of the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office decided to impose a heavy disciplinary punishment on Prosecutor Baek in relation to the suspicion that he forced a suspect in the JU case, a case about an illegal pyramid scheme, for harming the dignity of prosecutors by violating interrogation rules by using improper language. It also decided to discipline division
Continue readingProspects dim for capital market law
The Korea Herald along with many Korean language papers on March 2, 2007 reported that the proposed consolidation of the bank, insurance, and security laws is unlikely to pass because of opposition from banks, some prominent lawmakers, and academics. A plan to consolidate government acts related to banks, insurance and securities firms could hit a snag amid controversy over allowing brokerages to engage in banking transactions for customers. Several lawmakers, academics and banks are opposing the idea, arguing that it
Continue readingNew divorce law for N.K. defectors
The Korea Herald reported on March 2, 2007 that N.K. defectors will be able to receive divorces from their N.K spouses. The new law will help clear the way for defectors to divorce spouses still residing in the North. North Korean defectors will be able to obtain court approval to divorce spouses not residing in the South, as a new law came into effect Tuesday. The Seoul Family Court said yesterday it will expedite legal proceedings for 223 pending divorce
Continue readingKorea Audit Board to Audit FTA Negotiations
According to a report in the Donga Ilbo on Feb. 27, 2007 the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) will audit ongoing Korean-US FTA negotiations. Seemingly, the BAI intends to assuage inter-minister disagreements. The Chairman of the BAI is Jeon Yun-churl, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of MOFE during the Korea-Chile FTA negotiations. Chairman Jeon is considered to have been very instrumental in pushing through the Chile FTA. A brief excerpt of the story appears below. IPG Legal is engaged
Continue readingHuman Rights Commission says No way to Mandatory HIV Testing for Prostitutes
The National Human Rights Commission recommended on Feb. 26, 2007 that a clause requiring HIV/AIDS testing for all females working in businesses with links to prostitution, including massage parlors, be removed from a bill proposed by the Health Ministry. The bill by the Ministry is intended to revise the AIDS prevention law in order to deal with modern realities. The bill, if passed, would require two annual mandatory AIDS tests for female workers with a year in prison or fines
Continue readingSupreme Court Justice Kim Yong-dam on Judges/Prosecutors and Public Trust
A Joongang Daily editorial on Feb. 27, 2007 entitled Judges, prosecutors seeking to regain public trust summarizes a speech giving by Justice Kim Yong-dam to other judges. The editorial is enlightening to the fact that the legal system is trying to make a concerted effort to change its public image. The nation’s courts have given the impression that they are lenient to the haves but cold-hearted to the have-nots, Kim Yong-dam, a Supreme Court justice, said yesterday. During a lecture
Continue readingConstitutional Revision Bill Delayed
A Chong Wa Dae spokesman announced on Feb. 26, 2007 that the Constitutional Revision Bill will be delayed until late in March due to “technical problems.” The technical problems mentioned by the Blue House include difficulty in finding a solution to the possible occurrence of a vacancy in office. Many believe that the “technical problems” are simply a cover for the problem of lack of widespread support for the revision. On Jan. 9, 2007 Roh suggested, among other changes, that
Continue readingHow to Keep . . . Competitive (Bill Gates)
An article by Bill Gates on how the U.S. has remained competitive is a lesson for all nations. His simple advice to the U.S. should be followed by all nations. [Bill Gates]How to keep U.S. competitive For centuries people assumed that economic growth resulted from the interplay between capital and labor. Today we know that these elements are outweighed by a single critical factor: innovation. Innovation is the source of U.S. economic leadership and the foundation for our competitiveness in
Continue readingViolence in Korean Schools Rising
On Feb. 27, 2007 numerous Korean and English language newspapers reported that school violence has become such a problem that the Ministry of Education setup a program to enable students threatened by violence to receive an escort on the way to and from school. The program, to be implemented in April, will also include counseling to assist students in learning how to prevent violence. According to the Ministry, 15.9% of students have experienced violence in school and the percentage of
Continue readingLegal system hinders class action suits
Korea Herald Feb. 26, 2007 Experts say the burden of proof limits room for shareholders to maneuver Class action suits have mostly been cumbersome, costly and highly risky for shareholders filing complaints in the United States, but their gains clearly deserved such a demanding process. American firms had paid a total of $26 billion to settle collective legal complaints from 1997 to 2005, and each case cost $35 million on average. The record was rewritten as Enron Corp. and WorldCom
Continue readingProsecutor with cancer ‘only doing her job’
Korea Herald Feb. 26, 2007 Jin Hye-won, a 32-year-old prosecutor, has been the focus of media attention after it was revealed that she worked around the clock despite having brain cancer. The prosecutor with the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office underwent an operation to remove the tumor on Jan. 24, just two days before an appellant court sentenced the defendant in the case to eight months in prison and two years of probation. The defendant had originally been acquitted last
Continue readingFraud sentence stands against ex-Doosan boss
Joongang Daily February 23, 2007 The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced Park Yong-oh, a former Doosan Group chairman, to a three-year suspended jail term for embezzlement.Mr. Park, 69, was convicted by the Seoul Central District Court a year ago of embezzling 29.7 billion won ($31.5 million) from the business group between 1996 and 2005. Last July an appeals court upheld the three-year jail sentence, suspended for five years, and 8 billion won in fines. Kim
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