People Power Party on Lee Hwa-young's Guilty Verdict in Appeal: "Now It's Lee Jae-myung's Turn"

Ewhayeong Sentenced to 7 Years 8 Months in 2nd Trial for 'North Korea Remittance'
Democratic Party Avoids Mention... "No Related Discussions"

The People Power Party responded with "justice has been served" after former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young, who was indicted on charges including conspiracy for illegal remittances to North Korea, received a heavy sentence again in the appellate court.

On the 19th, in the appellate court hearing at the Suwon High Court Criminal Division 1 for violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and other charges, Lee was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison, which is 1 year and 10 months reduced from the first trial. In response, Seo Ji-young, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, stated in a commentary, "Now it is Representative Lee Jae-myung's turn." Seo added, "Despite numerous propaganda and agitation attempts to undermine the legitimacy and credibility of the investigation and trial by raising allegations of prosecution's attempts to sway witnesses during social gatherings, the court once again confirmed the 'substantive truth' of the illegal remittance case based on evidence and legal principles."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is entering the National Assembly after the first trial sentencing hearing on the perjury coaching charge on the 25th of last month. Lee was acquitted in the first trial on the perjury coaching charge that day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Seo Ji-young argued, "Representative Lee claims he 'did not know,' but former Deputy Governor Lee was directly recruited by Representative Lee as the person responsible for the North Korea-related projects," adding, "It is far from common sense for the public to believe that such a person would secretly pursue North Korea-related projects alone." She also criticized, "Despite the appellate court ruling revealing the facts of the case, Representative Lee is delaying the trial by employing various tricks such as filing motions to disqualify judges."

She further stated, "The Democratic Party is devoting all its efforts solely to 'protecting the representative,' by proposing special prosecutor laws and pushing for impeachment of the investigating prosecutors while claiming 'prosecutorial fabrication,'" and urged, "Representative Lee should stop obstructing justice and promptly face trial."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party showed no particular reaction to the second trial sentencing of former Deputy Governor Lee. A Democratic Party official briefly told reporters after a closed-door Supreme Council meeting in the afternoon, "There was no discussion related to this matter during the meeting."