South Korean law firm Yoon & Yang has strengthened its competition and antitrust group with the recruitment of Chiyeol Kim, the former deputy director of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), who will manage regulatory matters with a strong focus on corporate venture capital (CVC).
Sang Oh Jeon, head of the competition and antitrust group at Yoon & Yang, told Asia Business Law Journal that Kim was expected to make a significant contribution to strengthening the firm’s CVC operations.
“Chiyeol has long overseen CVC operations and system improvements at the KFTC and he hopes to contribute to pioneering and enhancing the CVC practice at Yoon & Yang,” Jeon said.
Kim spent eight years at the KFTC from 2017 to 2025 and was involved in amending the Fair Trade Act to facilitate CVC initiatives, and strengthen the holding company framework. In 2023, he was awarded a ministerial commendation for his contributions to regulatory reform in holding company oversight and CVC promotion.
Most recently, he served in the KFTC’s newly established Special Investigation Team, investigating whether gaming companies had violated the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce by engaging in practices related to randomised items, false probability disclosures and the operation of internal accounts.
Before joining the KFTC, Kim worked at Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers as a certified public accountant, accumulating his knowledge in this area.
Yoon & Yang has recently been advising on the establishment of CVCs. Notably, the firm acted for GS Group in launching its wholly owned CVC subsidiary called GS Ventures, which was the first of its kind among conglomerate holding companies in Korea.
The firm also advised Daejeon Metropolitan City in setting up Daejeon Investment Finance, marking the establishment of South Korea’s first public venture capital entity.
