‘Offering a very good combination of local expertise and global perspective’, Kim & Chang’s antitrust and competition team is a capable advisor on complex domestic and cross-border matters, with its expertise attracting an impressive roster of clients spanning from ICT to automotive companies. The group is co-led by experienced partners Youngjin Jung, who specialises in merger control and abuse of market dominance cases in the technology sector, and Gene-Oh (Gene) Kim, who concentrates on abuse of market dominance, cartels and merger filings. With strong credentials in the defence of antitrust investigations and merger notifications, Jung-Won Hyun is another name to note. Kyung Min Koh is a seasoned advisor on antitrust and M&A transactions, and Brian Tae-Hyun Chung is active in investigations by the KFTC. Hemi Lee is recognised for her work on market dominance, cartels and unfair trade practices. Min-Ho Lee left the team.
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Profile

Profile

Work Department
Antitrust and Competition; International Trade & Customs; Privacy & Data Security; Economic Sanctions
Career

Youngjin Jung is Co-Chair of Kim & Chang’s antitrust and competition law practice. Dr. Jung has significant experience in all areas of antitrust enforcement in merger control, international cartel and abuse of market dominance in major industries such as the technology and IT sectors. He also has significant experience in data privacy and cybersecurity, and leads the firm’s international trade practice (including trade remedies, WTO / FTA and sanctions).

Dr. Jung was a visiting professor at Duke Law School and an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School and Seoul National University School of Law. He has served as a Non-Governmental Advisor (NGA) for the ICN, and has served as an Officer of IBA International Antitrust Committee and a member of the International Cartel Task Force at ABA Section of Antitrust. He has also worked as the vice-chair of the International Antitrust Committee of ABA Section of International Law, and was President of the Korean Society of International Economic Law (2018-2019). Dr. Jung is a founding member of the Asia-Pacific Competition Community (APCC), and currently the vice chair of APCC’s international cartel committee.

Dr. Jung was a legal advisor for the Korea-US/Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as a member of various advisory boards of the Korea Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Communication Commission. He has also participated as a member of the Korean delegation in the OECD competition committee and the WTO Working Party on Interactions between Trade and Competition. He is a registered arbitrator at the World Bank’s ICSID Arbitration Panel and the Korea Commercial Arbitration Board and is also currently a registered panelist at Korea-US FTA’s dispute settlement body. He worked as an executive member of the IBA Trade and Customs Committee. He also worked at the International Trade Ministry and is the current president of the Korean Society of International Economic Law.

Dr. Jung has authored numerous articles on competition law and international trade, including an ABA Treatise entitled “Competition Laws outside the United States” (co-authored, 2011); “Cartel Enforcement Worldwide” (Cambridge University Press, 2009); “How Far WTO Should Reach into Income Tax Policies” (Journal of International Taxation, 2005); ABA’s Handbook on Antitrust in Technology Industries (co-authored, 2017); and “How Intellectual Property Rights Interact with Competition Law and Policy in Korea: QUO VADIS?” (Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, 2018). In 2021, Dr. Jung published an article in the Korean Journal of Competition titled, “Lina Khan: ‘The Theory of the End of Antitrust History’ and the New Brandeis Movement.”

He has been consistently listed in The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers and Chambers Asia-Pacific. He has also consistently been listed as a leading lawyer in WTO and International Trade in Chambers Global, Euromoney, and Who's Who International of Customs and Trade lawyers. He was also noted as a leading expert in Technology, Media and Telecommunication by Euromoney.

Languages
Korean and English
Memberships
Admitted to bar, Korea, 1993; New York, 2001
Education

Yale Law School (LL.M., 2000; J.S.D., 2003)

Passed the Higher Civil Service Examination on Foreign Affairs (1996)

Passed the Higher Civil Service Examination on Government Administration (1996)

Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea (1993)

College of Law, Seoul National University (LL.B., 1991)

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Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Their availability and team setup are outstanding compared to other law firms - from our perspective, this allows the team to combine different angles.’

    ‘Kyoung Yeon (Kay) Kim is within this team an outstanding expert and knows the facts best. She is always very much into the facts, circumstances and with a good feeling and approach on how to streamline the discussed views and arguments into one strategy and advice.’

    ‘Luke Shin is our key contact person with outstanding knowledge about the needs and expectations for us as a corporate legal in-house team. He is thereby always well aware of the circumstances, the big picture and can bring these in line with the expertise of the different teams and views working as a team.’

    ‘Kim & Chang's Antitrust and Competition practice is a leader in the field, offering a very good combination of local expertise and global perspective.’

    ‘Kim & Chang stands out in terms of consistently high work quality, responsiveness, strategic thinking and the ability to deliver according to clients’ needs.'

    ‘Seung Hwan (Miles Chung) offers great strategic thinking and guidance that goes beyond pure legal advice.'

    ‘The antitrust practice group at this law firm has been exceptional. Their deep expertise across a wide range of antitrust issues is evident in every interaction. What I particularly value is their ability to offer strategic insights that go beyond legal analysis—often incorporating political and economic perspectives.’

Key clients

  • Apple Samsung Electronics Korean Air Broadcom Siemens Volkswagen Group Booking.com SK Inc. AstraZeneca Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

Work highlights

Represented Siemens, Siemens Healthcare and Siemens Healthineers in their successful appeal of the KFTC’s sanctions for alleged abuse of market dominance, obtaining reversal of the KFTC’s sanctions.