Ewhayeong 'Sentenced to 9 Years and 6 Months in Prison' Just Before... Post by Legal Representative

SNS Post with Initial Consonants Suggesting Profanity Just Before Verdict

The court sentenced former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young to 9 years and 6 months in prison on charges related to the 'Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance suspicion.' Meanwhile, one of his legal representatives, lawyer Kim Kwang-min, posted a message reminiscent of a curse word.

On the afternoon of the 7th, just before the sentencing trial for Lee's charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, violation of the Political Funds Act, and obstruction of evidence, held at Suwon District Court Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Shin Jin-woo), lawyer Kim posted "ㅆㅂ" on his Facebook. "ㅆㅂ" is commonly used online as the initial consonants of a specific swear word.

It has not been confirmed what meaning lawyer Kim intended with this post, but some interpret it as an expression of dissatisfaction toward the court on that day.

Meanwhile, the court sentenced Lee to 9 years and 6 months in prison, a fine of 250 million won, and a confiscation amount of 325.95 million won. Regarding the contentious North Korea remittance, it was fully recognized that Ssangbangwool attempted to cover the costs of North Korea's smart farm project and the then Gyeonggi Province governor's visit to North Korea, which were supposed to be paid by Gyeonggi Province.

The Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case involves former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Sung-tae delivering $5 million for the smart farm project and $3 million for the then Governor Lee Jae-myung's visit expenses to Kim Yong-chol, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and Chairman of the Korea-Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, on behalf of Gyeonggi Province.

Lee was arrested and indicted in October 2022 on charges of receiving corporate cards and vehicles from the Ssangbangwool Group in exchange for supporting inter-Korean economic cooperation from July 2018 to July 2022. He is also accused of appointing aides as Ssangbangwool employees to receive false salaries. The prosecution explained that Lee received over 300 million won from Ssangbangwool Group through these means.

Immediately after the sentencing, lawyer Kim told reporters, "I absolutely cannot accept or acknowledge this." He added, "The court said it is hard to believe that a CEO of a company the size of Ssangbangwool would recklessly engage in (dollar smuggling) solely to boost stock prices, which made me doubt my ears. How can a trial be fair when it presumes that Kim Sung-tae, previously punished for stock manipulation, is a sound mid-sized company CEO who would not have done such things?"

He continued, "The trial was based on the premise that Kim Sung-tae is honest and Lee Hwa-young is a liar. This verdict is fundamentally flawed in its premise," and insisted, "I cannot accept the sentence of nearly 10 years given to Lee Hwa-young." Lee's side plans to appeal.

In this trial, Lee was sentenced to 8 years for bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, obstruction of evidence, and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, and 1 year and 6 months for violation of the Political Funds Act.