Young Poong Adviser Faces Environmental Crime Allegations; Police Question Complainants for First Time Since Case Transfer

Seoul Police's Metropolitan Investigation Unit to question committee representatives on Nov. 2
Case transferred to unit after review committee orders "reinvestigation"
Calls for probe into Jang Hyungjin's management involvement and fulfillment of remediation duties

Police have begun questioning the complainants in an environmental crime case involving heavy-metal pollution of the Nakdong River by the Young Poong Seokpo Smelter, concerning Young Poong adviser Jang Hyung-jin. The case had been dismissed without Jang being questioned.

A view of Yeongpoong's Seokpo Smelter.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit plans to question Im Deok-ja, head of the Nakdong River Upper Reaches Environmental Damage Residents’ Countermeasure Committee, and Shin Gi-seon, head of the Bonghwa County Countermeasure Committee for the Young Poong Seokpo Smelter, as complainants on the morning of November 2.

In August 2025, the committee filed a complaint against Jang with the Seoul Gangnam Police Station, accusing him of violating the Environmental Crimes Control Act, the Water Environment Conservation Act and the Soil Environment Conservation Act. In December of that year, however, the station decided not to refer the case to prosecutors without questioning Jang.

The committee then applied to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Investigation Review Committee for a review, calling the investigation inadequate because key parties had not been questioned, and filed a complaint against the investigator in charge for dereliction of duty. On August 11, the review committee ordered a reinvestigation into all the allegations and transferred the case to the agency’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit.

According to the complainants, the Young Poong Seokpo Smelter failed to comply with an order from Bonghwa County to remediate contaminated soil by June 30, 2025, despite receiving the order in December 2021. The committee argues that Jang bears legal responsibility for allowing the pollution to continue, as he served as Young Poong’s CEO from 1988 to 2015 and remains the controlling person of Young Poong, a business group designated by the Fair Trade Commission, effectively controlling the company to this day.

The committee called on the Metropolitan Investigation Unit, beginning with the questioning of the complainants, to thoroughly investigate Jang, including by questioning him as a suspect, examining the shareholding structure and evidence of his actual involvement in management, and determining whether remediation obligations have been fulfilled.

A committee representative said, “We hope this reinvestigation will establish who bears actual responsibility for the Nakdong River pollution caused by the Seokpo Smelter, which has continued for more than half a century.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.