[2025 Audit] Lead Prosecutor in "North Korea Remittance" Case Says "Lee Hwayoung's Attorney Resigned Due to Kim Hyunji's Reprimand"

Park Sangyong: "Attorney Seol Juwan said he received numerous reprimands from Kim Hyunji"
Lee Hwayoung: "Prosecutors repeatedly offered sentence reduction and release if I testified against Lee Jaemyung"

Former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwayoung is responding to a lawmaker's question during the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit of the Ministry of Justice held on the 14th.

Testimony from a current prosecutor has emerged, claiming that Kim Hyunji, the First Secretary to the President, exerted influence over the replacement of Lee Hwayoung’s defense attorney during the investigation into the “Ssangbangwool North Korea Remittance” case. However, former Deputy Governor Lee countered that his attorney at the time resigned on his own after siding with the prosecution and attempting to persuade him to change his testimony.

During the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit of the Ministry of Justice on the 14th, Park Sangyong, the lead prosecutor at the time, responded to questions from Assemblyman Joo Jinwoo of the People Power Party regarding the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case. He stated, “Attorney Seol Juwan, who had been representing Lee, suddenly resigned. When I asked why, he said he had received numerous reprimands over the phone from Kim Hyunji of the Democratic Party.”

Prosecutor Park added, “The investigation did not proceed smoothly without a defense attorney. There was even an incident where an unappointed attorney barged into the prosecutor’s office and tried to disrupt the investigation. Even after that, no new attorney was appointed for a while, so the attorney who had been representing Lee during the trial took over, and after that, more specific confessions were made. Subsequently, attorney Kim Gwangmin was appointed.”

When Assemblyman Joo asked whether these facts were clear, Prosecutor Park replied, “That is what I heard, and I reported the situation to the chief prosecutor at the time.”

The Ssangbangwool North Korea Remittance case refers to the incident in which, from July 2018 to July 2022, former Deputy Governor Lee was indicted for conspiring to remit 8 million dollars to North Korea after receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won from the Ssangbangwool Group. The Supreme Court ultimately sentenced him to seven years and eight months in prison.

Prosecutor Park also claimed that after attorney Seol resigned, Lee became extremely anxious and even asked for help in contacting Seol.

Regarding the allegation that threats and inducements were used to extract the desired testimony from Lee, Prosecutor Park refuted, “Lee was allowed almost unlimited meetings with visitors. If anything of that nature had actually occurred, it would have already become widely known.”

Former Deputy Governor Lee had initially confessed that he reported to then-Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jaemyung about Ssangbangwool’s payment of expenses for a North Korea visit. However, he later retracted this confession, claiming it was false and made under prosecutorial inducement and threats.

On the other hand, Lee argued, “Attorney Seol was not helping me during the investigation, but rather siding with the prosecution, leading to arguments and disputes between us. When I protested to Seol about this, he suddenly stopped appearing without any notice of resignation.”

Lee further stated, “The prosecution continuously offered to reduce my sentence and release me if I testified against Lee Jaemyung. It is obvious that their intention was to implicate Lee Jaemyung.”

Additionally, Lee claimed that Prosecutor Park was present at the so-called “salmon drinking party,” which has recently become a subject of controversy. Allegations have been raised that the prosecution provided salmon and alcohol to induce cooperation from key figures in the case, including former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sungtae. In response, Minister of Justice Jeong Seongho has ordered an internal inspection.