Police reopen probe into environmental crime allegations against Youngpoong Corporation adviser Jang Hyeongjin; complainant questioning begins

[Financial News] Police have launched a reinvestigation into environmental crime allegations against Jang Hyeongjin, an adviser to Youngpoong Corporation, over heavy-metal contamination of the Nakdong River and soil linked to the Yeongpoong Seokpo Smelter. Seoul’s Gangnam Police Station had previously decided not to refer the case for prosecution (dismissing it) without summoning Jang, but the case was transferred to the Metropolitan Investigation Unit following a decision by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Investigation Review Committee to reopen the investigation.
According to the Nakdong River Upper Reaches Environmental Damage Residents’ Countermeasures Committee and others, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit will question the complainant this morning, on the 2nd in connection with the environmental crime allegations against Jang. It is about 11 months after Gangnam Police Station decided not to refer the case last December.
The questioning follows the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Investigation Review Committee decision on August 11 to reopen the investigation into allegations that Jang violated the Act on the Control of and Aggravated Punishment for Environmental Crimes, etc., and the Soil Environment Conservation Act. The committee judged that an intensive investigation was needed and ordered the case transferred from Gangnam Police Station to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit.
The residents’ countermeasures committee had filed a complaint against Jang on August 27 last year, alleging violations of the Act on the Control of and Aggravated Punishment for Environmental Crimes, etc., the Water Environment Conservation Act, and the Soil Environment Conservation Act. However, on December 3 that year, Gangnam Police Station decided not to refer the case (dismissing it) without questioning Jang. The residents’ countermeasures committee has protested, saying the investigation was closed without sufficiently determining whether Jang had been substantively involved in the company’s management.
The central question in the reinvestigation is whether Jang exerted substantial influence over the operation of the Yeongpoong Seokpo Smelter and fulfillment of the duty to remediate contaminated soil. Jang served as CEO of Youngpoong Corporation from 1988 to March 2015 and continues to hold an advisory position. The Korea Fair Trade Commission designates Jang as the controlling person of the Youngpoong corporate group.
The complainant’s side claims that Jang continued to be substantively involved in the company’s management even after stepping down as CEO. In particular, it says the Yeongpoong Seokpo Smelter failed to properly comply with an order it received from the head of Bonghwa County in December 2021 to remediate the contaminated soil by June 30, 2025.
The committee urged investigators to thoroughly establish, through the reinvestigation, Jang’s shareholding structure, whether he intervened in management, and the extent to which the order to remediate contaminated soil has been carried out.
A committee representative said, “The investigation must thoroughly examine Jang’s actual management responsibility and whether he fulfilled the remediation duty, including by questioning him,” adding, “We hope responsibility for the Nakdong River pollution linked to the Seokpo Smelter will be clearly established.”
[email protected] Lee Dong-hyeok Reporter