The prosecution investigating Ssangbangwool Group's alleged illegal remittance to North Korea has additionally indicted Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, who is involved in the case.
The Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) referred former Deputy Governor Lee to trial on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act on the 21st.
Former Deputy Governor Lee is accused of conspiring with former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Seong-tae and others to smuggle out $8 million (approximately 8.8 billion KRW) overseas in five instances from January 2019 to January 2020 and delivering it to North Korean officials.
The prosecution believes that of the $8 million, $5 million was money that Gyeonggi Province had promised to pay North Korea as support funds for the smart farm project but, due to difficulties caused by North Korea sanctions, Ssangbangwool delivered the money to North Korea on behalf of Gyeonggi Province. The remaining $3 million is understood to have been paid by Ssangbangwool after Gyeonggi Province could not provide funds for the North Korea visit expenses of Lee Jae-myung, then governor of the province and current leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, using local government funds.
Former Deputy Governor Lee is currently on trial after being detained and indicted on October 14 last year on charges of receiving bribes and political funds worth hundreds of millions of won from Ssangbangwool in exchange for supporting inter-Korean economic cooperation projects.
At the beginning of the trial, Ssangbangwool denied allegations of bribing former Deputy Governor Lee, but after former Chairman Kim was captured and extradited while fleeing overseas in January, they changed their stance and admitted all charges of bribery. They also claimed that the remittance to North Korea was made on behalf of Gyeonggi Province to receive support from the province and to gain opportunities to participate in profit-making projects promoted by the province during the North Korea business process. Former Deputy Governor Lee completely denies these claims.
On the 15th of last month, the prosecution summoned former Deputy Governor Lee, who is detained at Suwon Detention Center, and conducted a four-party confrontation including former Chairman Kim, questioning former Deputy Governor Lee about the charges five times in total. After additionally indicting former Deputy Governor Lee, the prosecution plans to continue investigating related cases.
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