Korean-American named deputy attorney

Kim Joon-hyun

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Korean-American Kim Joon-hyun, 44, has been promoted to deputy U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, according to the office, Wednesday.

The deputy district attorney is the second-highest post in the office, and the promotion made Kim the highest-ranking Korean-American official in the U.S. prosecution.

Kim has been head of the office’s criminal division since July last year, and succeeded former Deputy District Attorney Richard B. Zabel.

A son of the former Korean Ambassador to Jordan, Kim Jae-sung, Kim graduated from Stanford University in 1993 and earned a juris doctor degree from Harvard University Law School in 1996.

After working with international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as an associate from 1996, Kim joined the Attorney’s Office in 2000 as an assistant U.S. attorney.

Kim investigated and prosecuted various crimes there, including murder, money laundering, securities fraud, firearms and narcotics offenses and tax evasion.

He also spent four years in the office’s Organized Crime and Terrorism Unit, dealing with the case of Peter Gotti, the then boss of the New York-based Gambino mafia family.

Kim also received an appreciation plaque from the Asian American Bar Association of New York for his dedication to public service in law enforcement, at its seventh annual reception at Brooklyn Law School, Tuesday.