Kwang-Yeoun Hwang is an attorney at Kim & Chang. He practices primarily in the areas of international trade and customs. Mr. Hwang also has extensive experience in the energy and natural resources industries.
Mr. Hwang is particularly active in advising clients on issues related to customs audits, investigations and court and administrative appeals of Korean Customs’ customs duty assessments as a result of its enforcement actions. Recently, Mr. Hwang has been representing foreign companies in numerous criminal cases involving violation of the Customs Act. In addition, with a growing number of Free Trade Agreements (“FTAs”) executed by Korea, Mr. Hwang plays a key role in the firm’s International Trade & Customs Practice in assisting clients in complying with various requirements of Korea’s FTAs, including successfully defending importers/exporters against origin verifications initiated by Korean Customs and conducting “mock” audits of companies to ensure that their claims may be substantiated in the event of future origin verifications. Mr. Hwang also leads the firm’s effort relating to customs classification of goods imported to Korea, under which clients enjoyed significant customs duty saving opportunities by correctly classifying imported merchandise under the Harmonized System of Korea. Mr. Hwang also has significant experiences in compliance issues relating to duty free business in Korea as well as trade remedy cases where he frequently appears before the Korea Trade Commission to represent clients’ interest.
Mr. Hwang is also active in outbound investments in energy and overseas natural resources, for which he has advised numerous public and private sectors. His experiences in this area include, among others, assisting companies in connection with acquisition of energy businesses and counseling companies on IPPs, oil, LNG and industrial gas businesses. Mr. Hwang currently serves as an external legal advisor to KOGAS and KNOC.
Mr. Hwang received his B.A. from the Department of Economics, Seoul National University in 2004. He attended the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea in 2006. Mr. Hwang is admitted to the Korean bar and received his LL.M. from the University of Southern California in 2013.
