"Offering 90 Million Won" Written Pledge and Disappearance by Kwon Kyung-ae, No Agreement with School Violence Victims' Families

Appeal Trial Missed 3 Times, Lawsuit Withdrawn
Bar Association Launches Investigation into Lawyer Kwon Kyung-ae

Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae (58, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 33), who became controversial for 'not appearing in a school violence lawsuit,' is reported to have written a written pledge and disappeared.

On the 7th, SBS reported that Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae, who has been out of contact, wrote a written pledge to repay 90 million won, an amount she arbitrarily set, to the bereaved family of the school violence victim over three years.

Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae (second from the left)
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the report, Yang Seung-chul, the representative attorney for the bereaved family, stated, "She did not write it in agreement with the bereaved family but gave it unilaterally." Attorney Yang is known to have been introduced to the bereaved family by Attorney Park Jun-young, who is well known as a 'retrial specialist.'

Attorney Park revealed on social networking service (SNS) that he had spoken with the bereaved family and said, "I hope this case highlights the problems within the legal community. The victim's mother also opposes the case being consumed by factional logic. She wants to use this case to expose the irresponsible behavior occurring in many places, questioning 'Is it acceptable for legal professionals to act like this?'"

Earlier, it was revealed belatedly that Attorney Kwon, a co-author of the so-called 'Cho Kuk Black Book' who criticized former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, did not appear in court after representing the bereaved family of the school violence victim, causing the lawsuit to fall apart.

According to the legal community, the Seoul High Court Civil Division 8-2 (then presided over by Chief Judges Kim Bong-won, Kang Seong-hoon, and Kwon Soon-min) ruled on November 24 last year that the plaintiff lost the damages claim lawsuit filed by Lee, the mother of the deceased Park.

In 2015, Park, a high school student in Seoul, died by suicide after suffering school violence. The following summer, Lee filed a damages claim lawsuit against the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the parents of the perpetrators, entrusting the lawsuit to Attorney Kwon.

In 2020, when the first trial was held, Attorney Kwon became known as a co-author of the 'Cho Kuk Black Book.' The first trial result was a partial victory for the plaintiff in February last year, ordering the perpetrator's parent A, who had consistently ignored the case, to pay 500 million won to Lee. Lee appealed against the others who were not held liable, and A also appealed the damages ruling.

Did not attend any of the three appeal hearings held

However, Attorney Kwon did not attend any of the three appeal hearings held from September to November last year. Ultimately, under the Civil Procedure Act, the court ruled that Lee had withdrawn the appeal and ruled against the plaintiff.

Lee, who met Attorney Kwon at the end of last month, posted on Facebook on the 5th, asking, "Why on earth did you not attend the court dates?" She said she received a reply that "Once, she went to the court but collapsed and could not attend; the second time, she mistakenly wrote the date as the next day in her planner and missed it, thinking the trial could be rescheduled, and that the judge gave her incorrect information, which led to this situation."

Lee expressed frustration, saying, "Around October last year, when the lawsuit was like that and the attorney was too exhausted to do anything, she was criticizing Cho Kuk and Lee Jae-myung and denouncing politics almost daily on her Facebook account." She exclaimed, "Who is criticizing whom?"

Lee continued, "Thinking that the perpetrators will boast about winning the trial breaks my heart and leaves me devastated. A lawyer who knows the law well killed my daughter twice and struck a blow to a grieving mother's heart, pushing her off a cliff," she criticized. As a result, the bereaved family ended up not only failing to receive compensation but also having to pay the opposing party's legal costs due to losing the case.

Korean Bar Association launches investigation into Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae

As the case escalated, the Korean Bar Association began an investigation into Attorney Kwon. The Bar Association stated the day before, "We take this matter seriously" and "We are preparing to refer Attorney Kwon to the disciplinary committee." If a lawyer is disciplined for violating the duty of diligence, their license can be suspended for up to three years.

Korean Bar Association
Photo by Yonhap News

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, which was the defendant in the lawsuit, announced that it would actively consider not recovering litigation costs from the bereaved family. Earlier, after the appeal was dismissed due to Attorney Kwon's absence, the Office of Education claimed 18 million won in first trial litigation costs from the bereaved family.

The bereaved family is reportedly considering filing a damages claim lawsuit against Attorney Kwon. Attorney Kwon has turned off her mobile phone, has not responded to inquiries from reporters, has not appeared at her office, and has also closed her previously active Facebook account.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.