The Ministry of Justice held the 7th Working-level Meeting on KOR-US International Criminal Cooperation in Korea on July 28, 2016. The two parties agreed to repatriate criminal proceeds worth about KRW 135,657,998 from the US in accordance with the KOR-US Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

This agreement is meaningful in that it is the first case of repatriation of criminal proceeds from overseas, resulting from three years of close cooperation between the investigation authorities of both countries.

It also can be seen as a follow-up measure after Hyun-Woong Kim, Korean Minister of Justice, and Loretta E. Lynch, US Attorney General, agreed to repatriate the assets of former Korean President Doo-hwan Chun’s family from the US in November 2015. The recent agreement is expected to serve as an opportunity to further bolster cooperation between the two countries with regard to mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

The Ministry of Justice plans to keep working closely with cooperative central authorities around the world, striving to trace and repatriate criminal proceeds from abroad.