Nexon founder summoned again over prosecutor’s stock purchase scandal

July 22, 2016

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) — Prosecutors summoned the founder of South Korea’s leading online game maker Nexon Co. for the second time on Friday over his alleged involvement in a senior prosecutor’s suspicious stock transactions.

An independent ad hoc prosecution team investigating the case said it has summoned Kim Jung-ju, the chairman of Nexon’s holding firm NXC Corp., to face questioning in regards to Jin Kyung-joon. The 48-year-old entrepreneur was summoned for the first time last week.

The case involving Jin came to light early this year as the senior prosecutor reported a whopping increase in his personal wealth in 2015. All ranking government officials and lawmakers are required to disclose changes in their personal wealth annually.

Nexon allegedly lent some 400 million won (US$348,000) to Jin in 2005, which helped the senior prosecutor amass some 12 billion won in profit through stock transactions by 2015.

Kim Jung-ju, founder of South Korea's leading online game maker Nexon Co., is surrounded by journalists as he appears before the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on July 13, 2016, to face questioning over his alleged involvement in a senior prosecutor's shady stock transactions.

Kim Jung-ju, founder of South Korea’s leading online game maker Nexon Co., is surrounded by journalists as he appears before the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on July 13, 2016, to face questioning over his alleged involvement in a senior prosecutor’s shady stock transactions.