Prosecutors: "Claims by Lee Hwa-young's side of 'former attorney's coaxing and constant CCTV recording' are also false"

Former Prosecutor Lawyer Meets at Request of Former Vice Governor Lee's Side

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office has issued a warning, stating that the newly raised allegations on the 22nd by the side of former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young regarding the 'drinking party inducement' suspicion are "completely unfounded" and that "those who make baseless false claims to slander the investigation team must bear appropriate responsibility."

In a statement distributed to the press corps that afternoon, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said, "Defendant Lee Hwa-young claimed for the first time in a handwritten confession today that he was induced to confess related to former Governor Lee Jae-myung through a lawyer arranged by a prosecutor," adding, "However, the said lawyer confirmed that 'there was no arrangement by the prosecutor at all, and that the meetings were held at the request of Defendant Lee Hwa-young and his family, with whom he has had a personal friendship for a long time, and that the inducement claim is completely groundless.'"

Attorney Kim Kwang-min, who is representing Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province.
Photo by Yonhap News TV screen capture.

Earlier, Kim Kwang-min, the lawyer defending former Deputy Governor Lee, disclosed a confession written by Lee the previous day to the media. In the confession, Lee claimed that he met several times with a lawyer who was a former high-ranking prosecutor arranged by a Suwon District Prosecutors' Office prosecutor.

Lee also alleged, "The lawyer persuaded me by saying it was an agreement with a high-ranking prosecutor, conveying that if I acknowledged Kim Sung-tae's testimony and testified that the remittance to North Korea was done for Lee Jae-myung, the prosecution promised to make the ongoing trial favorable to me and to stop investigations around me."

However, the lawyer mentioned by Lee issued a statement that afternoon, saying, "Lee Hwa-young's lawyer claims that a high-ranking prosecutor's lawyer, arranged by the chief prosecutor, acted as a messenger of the prosecution to induce and pressure Lee Hwa-young, but this is entirely untrue."

He added, "Therefore, I would like to reiterate that no such claims have ever arisen during the investigation and trial process of Lee Hwa-young so far."

The lawyer, a former high-ranking prosecutor, is known to have had a personal friendship with Lee for some time. The prosecution explained that the lawyer was not connected to Lee by a Suwon District Prosecutors' Office prosecutor but met Lee at the request of Lee and his family.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office stated, "Today, Defendant Lee Hwa-young's claim suggests that a prosecutor arranged a former official lawyer to induce him, but the visitation records at the detention center reveal that Lee was visited by the said lawyer at Suwon Detention Center on November 3, 2022, long before Kim Sung-tae was arrested and returned to the country, clearly confirming how absurd and false Lee's claim is."

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office also denied the claims related to the CCTV in the testimony recording room initially raised by Lawyer Kim.

Earlier, Lawyer Kim claimed in a statement that he received information that "there are two CCTVs in testimony recording room No. 1313 at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and one CCTV behind the mirror on the inner right corner is for continuous recording."

In response, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said, "Lee Hwa-young's lawyer claimed without any basis today that there are two CCTVs in the video recording investigation room, which he alleges is the drinking location, and that one hidden camera records continuously," adding, "However, each interrogation room in the prosecution building is equipped with two video recording devices, one positioned behind a mirror to capture the upper body of the person being investigated, and the other mounted on the ceiling to capture the entire room. These recording devices operate only when the person consents to video recording during the actual investigation and are not continuously recording CCTVs at all."

They further warned, "Those who make baseless false claims to slander the investigation team by alleging hidden CCTVs or continuous recording without any evidence regarding lawfully operated video recording equipment must bear appropriate responsibility."

Additionally, contrary to Lawyer Kim's claims, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office revealed that besides Lawyer Seol Joo-wan of the Democratic Party's Legal Committee, who defended former Deputy Governor Lee, other lawyers who defended or participated in Lee's investigation, including Hyun Geun-taek and Lee Han-yi, were also questioned about drinking inside the building and gave negative responses.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office pointed out, "Lee Hwa-young's side has been making impossible false claims that drinking occurred during the investigation to undermine the legitimacy of the investigation team. When objective evidence disproved these claims, they reversed their drinking allegations themselves and have been continuously spreading other falsehoods such as false confirmations by participating lawyers, inducement by former official lawyers, and CCTV in the video recording room."

They added, "This undermines the credibility of the investigation and trial outside the courtroom and appears to be an attempt to influence the court unfairly by exploiting public opinion ahead of the first trial verdict scheduled in about a month. Defendant Lee Hwa-young's side must immediately cease such judicial obstruction based on these false claims."

Meanwhile, Lawyer Kim, who had repeatedly changed the dates of the alleged drinking parties whenever the prosecution refuted the claims by confirming through objective evidence such as departure records that no drinking parties occurred on the dates claimed by Lee's side, stated in his statement that due to information asymmetry with the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, he will not refute the dates of the 'salmon drinking' until information such as departure records is secured.