‘Suspicion of Illegal North Korea Remittance’ Lee Jae-myung Appears for 2nd Investigation... "Prosecutors Haven't Found a Single Piece of Evidence"

Lee: "I am not foolish enough to make a gangster-turned-entrepreneur pay instead"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of third-party bribery in the process of ‘sending money to North Korea,’ appeared at the prosecution on the 12th for a second round of questioning. The prosecution is expected to request an arrest warrant next week after completing the remaining investigation into the allegations against Lee during this session.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is appearing at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province on the 12th to undergo investigation related to the suspicion of "Ssangbangwool Group's remittance to North Korea." Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Lee arrived at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office around 1:25 p.m. and told reporters, "This is my second appearance before the prosecution, and today I will see if they present any evidence linking me to the money sent to North Korea." He added sharply, "Over the past two years, they have changed topics from paying my attorney fees, paying for smart farm expenses, to paying for North Korea visits, mobilizing dozens of prosecutors and hundreds of investigators?hundreds of raids and hundreds of interrogations?but they have not found a single piece of evidence."

He said, "The reason is because it is not true," and added, "I even asked the prosecutors, but I am not foolish enough to commit such a serious crime as asking a corrupt businessman, who was once a gangster and illegal loan shark whom I do not even know, to pay 10 billion won on my behalf to North Korea just to take a single photo during a visit."

Lee stated, "No matter how much they try to make me look like a criminal, a fact that does not exist cannot be fabricated," and added, "The people and history will judge and decide."

He also said, "The reason the people entrusted power to us is to pursue a better life for the people and build a better country, not to privatize power with the mindset of ‘I am the state’ to eliminate political opponents or to use it as a means of violent domination," and requested, "I ask that more focus be placed on taking care of the difficult livelihoods and economy that our people are experiencing, not neglecting the peace crisis on the Korean Peninsula as it transforms with Asia as a foothold, and protecting the lives and safety of the people."

Finally, Lee said, "Regimes are short-lived, but the people and history are eternal," before heading into the building.

When asked if he had heard anything about ‘sending money to North Korea’ from Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, Lee briefly replied, "That is completely untrue."

The prosecution’s investigation on this day focused on confirming the following: ▲the allegation that Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, paid $3 million for Lee’s visit to North Korea in 2019 at the request of Lee Hwa-young, then Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, ▲various allegations of judicial obstruction related to the prosecution’s investigation and trial, and ▲the suspicion that Lee received split donations from former chairman Kim.

Since Lee’s questioning began in the afternoon, it is expected that the investigation related to the money sent to North Korea alone will be time-consuming. Considering possible delays, the prosecution plans to focus on key questions from their prepared list and confirm all remaining allegations.

The investigation team is expected to deploy Deputy Chief Prosecutor Song Min-kyung and Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, as in the first questioning. Since Lee did not agree to video recording during the first investigation, it is anticipated that no video recording will be made during the second questioning either.

After completing this investigation, the prosecution is considering combining the charges related to the Baekhyeon-dong development corruption case investigated by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and requesting an arrest warrant for Lee. With the prosecution’s arrest warrant request for Lee seen as inevitable, attention is focused on the timing of the warrant request. The issue is Lee’s health condition, as he has entered the 13th day of his hunger strike. If Lee does not stop his hunger strike, his health is expected to deteriorate, and he may soon be hospitalized.