Anti-Corruption Agency Indicts Judge Ji Gwi-yeon Without Detention Over Alleged Entertainment at Hostess Bar

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials indicted Judge Ji Gwi-yeon without detention over allegations that two lawyers paid 4.09 million won for entertainment at a reservation-only bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district.

The agency charged Ji with violating South Korea’s Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. It alleges that, around August 2023, he accepted entertainment exceeding 1 million won on a single occasion. Ji reportedly denied the allegations, saying he did not remember the circumstances.

Investigators reviewed photographs reported by the media, financial records and Ji’s taxi-use history. They identified two occasions when the same people gathered at the same location, questioned the business owner and other witnesses, determined the relevant dates, and obtained the parties’ financial transaction records.

The agency did not find evidence that the entertainment came in exchange for favorable treatment in court. It therefore did not indict the lawyers on bribery-related allegations and also declined to prosecute over a separate alleged entertainment incident in September 2024.

The agency said Ji had ruled in favor of a case at the appellate level in 2013 after a first-instance defeat, when one of the lawyers had represented the case. But it concluded that the 10-year gap between that ruling and the alleged entertainment made it insufficient to establish a quid pro quo for his earlier official duties.

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Although Judge Ji Gwi-yeon ruled in favor at the appellate level in a case lost at first instance in 2013, when one of the donors’ lawyers represented it, the 10-year gap from the alleged entertainment and other circumstances were insufficient to regard it as payment for his past official duties.