Prosecution Indicts and Detains Kim Seong-tae, Secretary to Ssangbangwool Chairman

Former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Sung-tae Accused of Aiding Escape
Six Mobile Phones Seized and Analyzed

The Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) indicted Park Mo, the former personal secretary of Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, on charges of harboring a criminal on the 27th.

Park is accused of continuously assisting Kim, who fled overseas at the end of May last year and was on the run in places such as Singapore and Thailand, by arranging hiding places and providing food procured domestically during Kim's escape.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Park, who served as Kim's personal secretary for over 20 years, was also registered as an inside director of Chakan-i Invest, a paper company established by Kim.

He was captured near the Cambodia border shortly after Kim was arrested at a golf course in Pathum Thani, Thailand, along with Yang Seon-gil, the current chairman of Ssangbangwool, on the 10th of last month, and was brought back to South Korea.

The prosecution seized six mobile phones in Park's possession and is conducting forensic analysis. Among them, two are identified as Kim's mobile phones.

Earlier, on the 3rd of this month, the prosecution indicted Kim on charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act for delivering 8 million dollars to North Korea on behalf of Gyeonggi Province in 2019.

The prosecution is investigating further the specific purpose and scale of the remittance, believing that Kim sent the money to North Korea at the request of Lee Hwa-young (also indicted), former Peace Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province.