Kim reports 1.72 billion won, spouse 2.01 billion won in assets

Lee calls Kim 'right person' to lead the agency

Kim Ji-yong, nominee for inaugural chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. [Yonhap]
Kim Ji-yong, nominee for inaugural chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. [Yonhap]

Kim Ji-yong, the nominee for inaugural chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, reported total assets of 3.81 billion won ($2.8 million) ahead of his National Assembly confirmation hearing Friday. The figure includes the assets of his spouse and two children.

According to the confirmation hearing request submitted to the National Assembly, Kim's assets in his own name total 1.72 billion won, comprising two apartments in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and a half-share of a jeonse lease on an apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, valued at 725 million won. He also holds 285.62 million won in deposits and has invested 30 million won — a 3.9 percent stake — in the law firm where he works.

His spouse's assets amount to 2.01 billion won, including a 50 percent share of an apartment in Jeongja-dong, Bundang-gu, co-owned with Kim, and a 50 percent share of the jeonse lease on the Seocho-dong apartment. The spouse also holds 913.16 million won in deposits, 123.08 million won in shares and 26.04 million won in virtual assets. Their eldest son, born in 2000, and eldest daughter, born in 2004, reported assets of 52.24 million won and 25.61 million won, respectively.

Kim completed his mandatory military service in the Army, reaching the rank of sergeant. His eldest son has deferred his service due to university enrollment but is set to report to an Army training center on Nov. 30, Kim's office said.

President Lee Jae Myung, in the written rationale accompanying the confirmation request, described Kim as someone who "performed a wide range of duties in the criminal justice field — including special investigations, criminal cases and trials — during his career as a prosecutor," adding that he is "the right person to lead the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, with strict responses to serious crimes in accordance with the law and principles, and with the protection of the people's fundamental rights and human rights as the top priority."

Lee also said "stable leadership is needed to help the newly established agency take root quickly," and that Kim "has the qualities suited to consolidating the agency's overall investigative capabilities and establishing a criminal justice system that the public can trust."


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