'At the Crossroads of Detention' Kim Man-bae's Fate... Depends on Chief Judge Moon Seong-gwan

The Judge Who Issued the Warrant for Rapper Jang Yong-jun Today

Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management and a key figure in the Daejang-dong development lobbying and preferential treatment allegations, is appearing as a suspect at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 11th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The judge who will decide whether to detain Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, has been appointed as Moon Seong-gwan, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court.

Chief Judge Moon will hold a pre-detention suspect hearing (warrant substantive examination) for Kim at 10:30 a.m. on the 14th in Courtroom 321 of the West Building at the Seoul Court Complex to consider the necessity of detention. Kim’s case was assigned to Chief Judge Moon according to the usual 'random computerized allocation' method. There are three judges in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, including Chief Judge Moon.

Chief Judge Moon is originally from Jeju and graduated from Yonsei University. He passed the 39th Judicial Examination in 1997. After being appointed as a judge at the Gwangju District Court in 2000, he served at the Seoul Central District Court, Seoul High Court, Cheongju District Court, Suwon District Court, and returned to the Seoul Central District Court in February this year to handle warrant duties.

Judges in charge of warrants must accurately review detention or search warrants within a short period and decide on the deprivation of the suspect’s physical freedom before the main judgment, which carries significant mental burden. Judges recognized for their competence are assigned to this position within the court. Chief Judge Moon attracted attention inside and outside the court by promptly issuing a warrant through written examination alone for Jang Yong-jun, the son of People Power Party lawmaker Jang Je-won, who waived his warrant substantive examination on the morning of the 12th.

Earlier, the dedicated investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-hoon) filed a pre-detention warrant application against Kim in the afternoon on charges including bribery. This was just one day after Kim was investigated as a suspect. The prosecution reportedly decided to secure Kim’s custody to continue further investigation after he maintained claims different from the evidence collected so far during the previous day’s investigation. In general, the prosecution considers detention necessary when a suspect denies charges despite clear physical evidence, citing concerns over ‘risk of evidence destruction.’

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