February 2021. Yoon & Yang LLC has announced recent hires of Jaebum Seok, a former Deputy Minister for ICT Policy of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Sugyoung Yi, a former Senior Deputy Director of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC)’s Broadcasting Infrastructure Bureau OTT Policy Cooperation Team as Senior Advisor and Partner, respectively. The hires of Mr. Seok and Ms. Yi, both of whom are considered as prominent figures in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) fields in Korea, is expected to further reinforce Yoon & Yang’s capabilities in advising its clients on regulatory issues as well as government policies in relation to the TMT sector.
Jaebum Seok, a broadcasting and communications policy expert, joins the firm after serving various high profile governmental positions including the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), the KCC, and the Office of Presidential Secretary for Future Strategy.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Seok was the President of the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). During his tenure at the government, Seok served as the Communications Competition Policy Director, Communications Planning Director and Communications and Broadcasting Policy Supervising Team Head of the ICT Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Assistant Secretary for Industrial Policy of the Office of Presidential Secretary for Economy; the Finance and Planning Officer of the MSIT; the International Cooperation Officer, Policy Planning Officer and Broadcasting Promotion Planning Officer, and Director General for Network Policy of the KCC; the Director General for Communications Policy of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning; the Broadcasting, Information and Communication Secretary of the Office of Presidential Secretary for Future Strategy; the Deputy Minister for ICT Policy of the Ministry of Science and ICT; and the President of the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Promotion (whose name was changed to the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) in December 2018).
Sugyoung Yi joins the firm after serving 14 years as a government official. During her term at the Korean government, she was responsible for enforcing regulations in relation to the broadcasting industry while serving at the KCC’s Programming and Evaluation Policy Division; Broadcasting Infrastructure Coordination Division, Consumer Policy Coordination Division, Privacy Protection and Ethics Division, and the Broadcasting Policy Planning Division. Most recently, she served as the Senior Deputy Director of the KCC’s OTT Policy Cooperation Team.
As a result of the new additions, the firm’s TMT team expects to strengthen its capacity in advising not only existing TMT clients on various regulatory matters and related dispute resolutions, but also newly emerging high tech industries such as Artificial Intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and blockchain, personal information, and information security.
Yoon & Yang’s TMT team, which is led by seasoned partners Soongki Yi and Kwang-Wook Lee, has been recognized by international legal directories as a recommended firm in South Korea. Legal500 Asia-Pacific 2021 edition recently upgraded the firm's TMT ranking to Tier 2. In addition, Soongki Yi has been recognized as a Leading Individual by asialaw Profiles 2021, and Kwang-Wook Lee has been recognized as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2021. In addition, the team recently added media and contents expert and former SBS program director, Yong Hae Lee as a partner. The team’s main clientele include Netflix, iQIYI, and Coupang.