Wan Young Shin

Attorney, Kim & Chang

Wan Young Shin is an attorney at Kim & Chang who provides expert legal counsel in the fields of environment, energy, health and safety.

She primarily focuses on environmental law, offering comprehensive legal services based on her broad experience on matters such as environmental impact assessment, air, water, soil, chemical substances and waste, as well as contemporary environmental topics including ESG, climate change, carbon neutrality, renewable energy, circular economy and biodiversity.

She has extensive experience in reviewing environmental permits, analysing environmental compliance, handling environmental investigations and disputes, supporting environmental due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, responding to environmental impact assessments, and consulting on ESG and climate change issues. Based on this expertise, she provides high quality and systematic solutions for environmental legal challenges.

She has extensive consulting experience in establishing and inspecting safety and health management systems and also possesses specialized expertise in accidents dispute resolution.

She received an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2025. She graduated from the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea in 2017, having earned her LL.B. from Yonsei University in 2015. She was admitted to the Korean Bar in 2017.

Contributed to

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ESG in South Korea

Practice Notes

Executive narrativeSouth Korea’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) regime is a practical multi-regime system. In practice, execution risk usually comes from six channels operating at the same time:•listed-company governance disclosure through the Korea Exchange (KRX) and Financial Services Commission (FSC) regimes•developing sustainability-reporting standards through the Korea Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB) standards•environmental and product rules administered mainly by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE, formerly Ministry of Environment)•labour and occupational safety and health regulations (including regulations on serious accidents) administered mainly by the Ministry of Employment and Labour•Commercial Code, including directors’ duty to protect shareholders’ interests, administered by the Ministry of Justice, and•consumer-facing claim control by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)That means legal teams need tracks for capital markets, risk and

Environment