Prosecutors Reinvestigate Former Hyosung Vice President Jo Hyun-moon on Charges of Attempted Extortion

Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Accepts Hyosung's Appeal Last Month

Former Hyosung Vice President Jo Hyun-moon. [Photo by Yonhap News]

The prosecution has launched a reinvestigation into the attempted extortion charges against Cho Hyun-moon, the second son of Cho Seok-rae, Honorary Chairman of the Hyosung Group. Cho Hyun-moon is accused of demanding that the Hyosung chairman Cho Hyun-joon’s side purchase his unlisted shares at a high price during the so-called "Hyosung Brothers' War," and threatening to hand over incriminating materials to the prosecution if they did not comply.

According to the legal community on the 7th, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office accepted an appeal filed by Hyosung against the prosecution’s decision not to indict Cho Hyun-moon on the 30th of last month, and ordered a reinvestigation into the attempted extortion charges against him.

A reinvestigation order is a procedure in which a higher-level prosecution office reviews an appeal or re-appeal and, if it deems the investigation insufficient, instructs a reinvestigation.

The reinvestigation of Cho Hyun-moon has been assigned to the Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyung-seok).

Starting in July 2014, Cho Hyun-moon triggered the "Brothers' War" by filing complaints and accusations against his older brother, Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, and key executives, alleging embezzlement and breach of trust.

Cho Hyun-joon’s side filed a counter-complaint in 2017, claiming that Cho Hyun-moon, with advice and counsel from former News Communication CEO Park Soo-hwan and others, threatened him.

According to Cho Hyun-joon’s side, Cho Hyun-moon threatened to hand over incriminating materials related to illegal activities to the prosecution if his unlisted shares were not purchased at a high price, and Park Soo-hwan was promised a large sum of money if the plan succeeded.

However, the Major Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which investigated the complaint, indicted Cho Hyun-moon without detention last November only on charges of attempted coercion, and dismissed the attempted extortion charges.

Regarding the attempted extortion charge, Article 328, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Act, which concerns the exemption of prosecution among relatives, applies. This means that for crimes between relatives who are not direct lineal descendants, spouses, or cohabiting relatives, prosecution can only proceed if there is a complaint, and the complaint period had already expired.

In response to this prosecution decision, Chairman Cho and Hyosung filed an appeal, which the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office accepted, ordering a reinvestigation.

The Seoul High Prosecutors' Office reportedly issued the reinvestigation order on the grounds that if Cho Hyun-moon’s threats were directed at Hyosung rather than Chairman Cho, the exemption rule among relatives might not apply, so it is necessary to consider whether Hyosung Group can be regarded as the victim. Even if the victim is considered to be Chairman Cho, it is necessary to re-examine whether the complaint period is still valid.

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