Senior prosecutor's stock gain causes stir

By Kim Bo-eun

Jin Kyung-joon

A senior prosecutor’s huge profits from stocks has created a stir due to his questionable investments.

Jin Kyung-joon, chief of the Korea Immigration Service of the Ministry of Justice, was found to have gained 12 billion won by selling some 800,000 shares in the game company Nexon for 12.6 billion won last year which he’d purchased in 2005 at a much lower value.

How he first bought the shares is suspicious.

At the time that he bought the shares, Nexon’s games were gaining popularity and the firm’s sales were snowballing. But Nexon was not listed and it would not have been easy for ordinary investors to purchase the company’s stocks.

The suspicion is that he was able to buy the shares due to his friendship with Nexon founder and holding company NXC's Chairman Kim Jung-ju. Jin and Kim are fellow university alumni and their families are close, according to sources.

Jin also worked for the Financial Services Commission-affiliated Korea Financial Intelligence Unit from 2002 to 2004, and it is suspected that he invested in the company knowing that it was planning to go public.

As the controversy grew, Jin issued a statement Thursday, saying he purchased the shares from an acquaintance of a college friend working at a consulting firm at the time in 2005. He said he and three other friends invested in the company, buying some 8,000 shares each.

But Jin did not disclose from whom he bought the shares. As the company was not listed, only some company insiders had been holding that many shares, industry sources said.

The number of shares multiplied by 100 in 2011, as they were split when Nexon became listed on Japan’s stock market, he said.

Regarding allegations that he purchased the shares at lower than face value ― which was 500 won at the time ― Jin said he had “bought each share at a much higher price, which ranged several tens of thousands of won.” But he did not disclose the exact price that he paid.

“I sold the shares after 10 years as I thought it was not proper for a high-ranking official to hold such a large amount of stocks,” he said.

Jin also denied that he used insider information. “During the years I have worked as a public official, I have never been involved in work related with the company in which I bought stocks,” Jin said. “But I, as a public official, apologize for having created a stir over asset issues.”

The findings were from a mandatory disclosure of assets of high-ranking officials last month. Jin reported 15.6 billion won in assets, and the amount increased from the previous year ― the 3.8 billion won from the stock trade ― was the highest among officials subject to the disclosure.