Ssangbangwool North Korea Remittance "Third-Party Bribery" Trial
Former Gyeonggi Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwayoung
"This Case Concerns the Validity of Evidence, Inspection Report from High Prosecutors' Office Needed for Judgment"
Ewhayeong, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, is responding to a lawmaker's question at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit of the Ministry of Justice and others on October 14, 2025. Photo by Hyunmin Kim
Lee Hwayoung, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, stated at the first trial of the "third-party bribery" case related to Ssangbangwool's remittance to North Korea that the court should decide whether to continue the trial after reviewing the results of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office's inspection regarding the "salmon and drinking party" incident at the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.
At the first hearing of the bribery case, held on the 4th at the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 11 (presided over by Judge Song Byunghoon), Lee requested, "Please allow me 2 to 3 minutes to speak regarding the proceedings," before making this statement. Lee argued, "This trial concerns the validity of evidence, so a decision should be made after reviewing the results of the inspection."
Lee also stated, "This case was orchestrated by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to suppress and eliminate opposition leader Lee Jaemyung. The prosecution forced me to make false statements against Lee Jaemyung and threatened me through a series of investigations unrelated to the main case. The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office conducted an extremely deceptive investigation regarding these illegal acts, falsely claiming in the media and submitting to the court that there was no wrongdoing during the investigation process."
He added, "If this trial is forced to proceed, it will go down in history as a representative example of our judicial system being reduced to a tool for persecuting politicians."
Kim Sungtae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool, who was also indicted for bribery, stood up from the defendant's seat and told the court, "Please allow me to speak as well." He continued, "For three years, I have been under investigation and on trial for this case, and now the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office has begun investigating company executives and employees. I hope the court will conduct the trial with a sense of responsibility."
The day's proceedings consisted of the prosecution's opening statement and the defense's response to the charges.
The third-party bribery case involving Ssangbangwool's remittance to North Korea centers on allegations that, between January 2019 and January 2020, when Lee Jaemyung was Governor of Gyeonggi Province, Lee Hwayoung and Kim Sungtae arranged for Kim to pay $5 million for a smart farm project and $3 million for the governor's visit to North Korea, which were originally obligations of the province to the North Korean side.
In July of this year, the court suspended proceedings against President Lee, citing "continuity of state administration" and set the next hearing date to be determined later. The next hearing is scheduled for January 13 of next year at 2:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the Human Rights Violation Task Force of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, which is investigating the "salmon and drinking party inducement allegations" raised during the investigation of the Ssangbangwool remittance case, has indicted Kim Sungtae for breach of trust. The prosecution is reportedly investigating whether Kim and others used Ssangbangwool corporate credit cards to purchase outside food and alcohol and brought them into the prosecutor's office during meetings.
The Ministry of Justice stated that, as a result of its fact-finding investigation, it confirmed that alcohol and food were indeed provided during the investigation process, and in September, it ordered an official inspection of the matter. Previously, on October 23, Koo Jahyun, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, stated at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit that "some aspects have been converted to criminal investigations" and "necessary parts are being investigated during the fact-finding process."
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