South Korea's Ministry of Justice signs agreement with European Criminal Justice Cooperation Agency...Strengthening international cooperation

The Korean Ministry of Justice (equivalent to the Ministry of Justice in Japan) signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of criminal justice with the European Union (EU)-affiliated European Organization for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST), becoming the first Asian country to do so.
The Ministry of Justice announced on the 30th that it had signed a business agreement with the European Criminal Justice Cooperation Organization and held a criminal justice cooperation workshop to deal with transnational crimes.
It is expected that this will further strengthen the European investigative and mutual assistance system and become the basis for effectively dealing with cross-border crimes such as digital sex crimes, hacking, narcotics and money laundering.
The European Criminal Justice Cooperation Agency (ECJC) was established in 2002 as a European Union institution, and its role is to provide mutual criminal legal assistance among European countries, cooperate with non-European countries, and coordinate joint investigations.
In 2020, the company and South Korea are investigating an international organization that illegally distributed copyrighted material, causing damages of tens of billions of won (approximately several billion yen) by sharing many popular movie and music works on the Internet.
During the investigation, the government cooperated with investigative agencies in 18 countries, including Germany, Spain, and France, and conducted simultaneous house searches, resulting in the prosecution and punishment of two domestic server operators who illegally shared 65,000 copyrighted works.
The agreement includes measures to strengthen practical cooperation, such as designating a liaison office between the two agencies, establishing an information-sharing system, and joint criminal judicial assistance and joint investigations.
In his speech, he said, "In order to deal with transnational crimes such as digital sexual crimes and hacking, cybercrimes, money laundering, and drug trafficking, close cooperation between nations is essential," and "the signing of the business agreement is a major step."
"This is a historic step to further strengthen cooperation between Korea and European countries in the field of criminal justice," said Michael Schmidt, chairman of the European Criminal Justice Cooperation Organization.
"In order to tackle the current organized crime, close cooperation between prosecutors from various countries and regions is important," he said. "The conclusion of the agreement will be the cornerstone for enabling closer mutual assistance and effective cooperation in the future."
About 30 prosecutors and investigators of cybercrime and virtual currency crime participated in the workshop, and a number of topics were presented, including "Practical cooperation proposals with the European Criminal Justice Cooperation Organization" and "Cyber Crime Prevention and Mitigation Agency."
They discussed joint responses to transnational crimes, including on the topic of "International Cooperation on Crime Prevention and Virtual Currency Transactions and International Cooperation on Virtual Currency Crimes."