Kim Joon-yong, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Sung Kim’s elder brother, recently took office as partner and Korea practice leader of Squire Sanders, a U.S.-based global law firm.

The Seoul office of Squire Sanders held its opening ceremony at Shilla Seoul hotel on Nov. 8. Sung Kim attended the event and made a congratulatory speech. The office was set up in Ferrum Tower in central Seoul in early October, officials said.

The brothers majored in law in the U.S. Kim Joon-yong attended Choong Ang High School in Seoul, graduated from the University of Southern California and then studied law at Georgetown University. He began his legal career in 1982 with Graham & James, which later merged with Squire Sanders. He joined Squire Sanders in 2009. Over his career, he has advised on many corporate transcations including cross-border M&As.

His younger brother, Sung Kim, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Loyola Law School before working as a prosecutor. Then he changed his career to a diplomat and became the first Korean-American to be appointed U.S. ambassador to Korea.

Kim’s father, Kim Ki-wan, is alleged to have been involved in the 1973 abuction and planned assassination of Kim Dae-jung, then an opposition leader who later became Korean president. Kim Dae-jung had been kidnapped in Tokyo, where Kim Ki-wan was serving as a minister at the Korean Embassy in Japan. The assassination attempt was thwarted. Soon after the incident, Kim Ki-wan and his family immigrated to the United States.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)