Acquisition of Construction Company Leads to "Lax Management"
Attorney Faces Trial for 5.2 Billion Won in Unpaid Wages
The special prosecution team for the insurrection is expected to emphasize the legitimacy of the detention by mainly involving the special prosecutors and prosecutors who participated in the detention warrant hearing for former President Yoon Seokyeol's detention review. The photo shows the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, where the insurrection special prosecution office was set up on July 18, 2025. Photo by Kang Jinhyung
An attorney currently serving as the CEO of a construction company has been indicted without detention on charges of embezzling company funds for use as operating capital for his own law firm and failing to pay approximately 5 billion won in wages to employees.
On July 18, the Public Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Kim Taehun) announced that it had indicted, without detention, Jeon, a practicing attorney and CEO of Sungji Construction, as well as Choi, chairman of Sungji Construction, on charges of violating the Labor Standards Act and the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits.
According to the prosecution, Jeon is accused of acquiring Sungji Construction and, while serving as CEO from June 2022 to May 2024, failing to pay approximately 5.2 billion won in wages and other payments to 58 employees.
The prosecution stated that, after receiving the case from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which had accepted complaints from the affected employees, it conducted an investigation including tracking bank accounts and determined that this was a large-scale wage arrears case in which the attorney's lax management of the company caused harm to numerous employees.
The prosecution also announced that it had identified Choi as an accomplice and brought him to trial together with Jeon.
The investigation found that Jeon transferred construction company funds to his law firm under the pretext of consulting fees, and also used the funds as operating capital for another company jointly operated with Choi, while still failing to pay substantial wages to employees.
The prosecution stated that it had requested a detention warrant for Jeon once in May, but the court dismissed the request, resulting in him being indicted without detention.
The prosecution said, "Going forward, we will continue to strictly crack down on wage arrears offenders in cooperation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and will do our utmost to help restore the damages suffered by workers whose livelihoods are threatened by unpaid wages."
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