Suwon District Prosecutors' Office: Court Rejects Ewha-Young Lee's Four Major False Claims Including 'Drinking Intimidation'... Regrets Sentence Reduction

Former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, who was arrested and indicted on charges including receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from Ssangbangwool Group and conspiring to remit $8 million to North Korea, was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison in the appellate trial on the 19th, a reduction of 1 year and 10 months from the first trial, while the prosecution stated

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said, "The Suwon High Court held a total of eight hearings and delivered the appellate verdict today regarding former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young," adding, "Following the first trial court’s recognition of most of the charges, especially the substance of the illegal remittance to North Korea, the appellate court reaffirmed the legitimacy of the first trial’s judgment."

Suwon District Prosecutors' Office. Yonhap News Agency

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office stated, "The appellate court rejected all four major false claims raised by defendant Lee Hwa-young and others, namely the so-called ‘drinking persuasion,’ ‘testimony seminar,’ ‘stock price manipulation,’ and ‘agent Ri Ho-nam’ with detailed grounds."

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office summarized the court’s judgment on these four claims as follows.

Regarding the ‘drinking persuasion’ claim, the prosecutors said the court judged, "Considering that many correctional officers accompanied the defendant Lee Hwa-young and others during their departure and the structure of the video recording room, it is difficult to see that there was a drinking party. Also, given Lee Hwa-young’s political career and academic background, it is hard to accept that his testimony was fundamentally influenced by fish dishes or alcohol."

Regarding the ‘testimony seminar’ claim, the court ruled, "According to Article 245 of the Criminal Procedure Act, whether to conduct a confrontation interrogation is at the discretion of the investigative agency. There are no special circumstances to consider the confrontations in this case illegal. Considering that Kim Sung-tae made key decisions and employees shared the execution of duties, the confrontations were necessary for fact verification and were lawful procedures under the Criminal Procedure Act."

Regarding the ‘stock price manipulation’ claim, the court found, "While it is acknowledged that Kim Sung-tae and others expected the rise of Nanos’ stock price during the decision to cover payments and the full-scale promotion of Ssangbangwool Group’s North Korea business, this was merely the motive for deciding to cover payments at the request of defendant Lee Hwa-young. Without Lee Hwa-young, Kim Sung-tae and others would have had no reason to meet North Korean officials or promote the North Korea business. Therefore, it does not appear that the smart farm costs were paid solely to boost Nanos’ stock price, independent of Lee Hwa-young." This judgment rejects the claim by Lee, the former deputy governor, that the remittance to North Korea might have been made to facilitate former Chairman Kim Sung-tae’s solo visit to North Korea.

Finally, regarding the claim related to ‘agent Ri Ho-nam,’ the court stated, "Considering Ri Ho-nam’s status as a North Korean agent, even if he was not included among the official invitees to the international competition and no one saw Ri Ho-nam at the scene, this alone does not affect the credibility of the testimony by the provider Kim Sung-tae," the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office reported.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said, "The appellate court once again recognized that Ssangbangwool Group’s remittances of $5 million and $3 million to North Korea were respectively for covering the costs of Gyeonggi Province’s smart farm support and the Gyeonggi Province governor’s visit to North Korea, and that defendant Lee Hwa-young conspired in these cover payments."

It added, "However, it is difficult to accept the sentence reduction to 7 years and 8 months in prison, despite defendant Lee Hwa-young causing social confusion by generating false claims, attacking the first trial court, and turning the criminal trial into a political arena even after the first trial’s verdict."

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office stated, "We will decide whether to appeal after securing the judgment document and completing legal review. The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office will continue to maintain the prosecution based solely on evidence and legal principles in the illegal remittance to North Korea trial and strictly hold all involved parties accountable."

The Criminal Division 1 of the Suwon High Court (Presiding Judges Moon Ju-hyung, Kim Min-sang, Kang Young-jae) sentenced former Deputy Governor Lee to 7 years and 8 months in prison, reducing the sentence by 1 year and 10 months compared to the first trial, at the appellate hearing held that afternoon on charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery), violation of the Political Funds Act, and obstruction of justice. The first trial’s fines of 250 million won and confiscation of 325.95 million won were maintained.