"1 Billion Won Paid to An Busu for Ssangbangwool Office Rent and False Salary"... Testimony Reversal Omitted

Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office Issues Arrest Warrant
Judgment on Core Statement and Testimony Reversals Withheld

The prosecution has included in its arrest warrant for An Busu, President of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association, allegations that he illegally received 100 million won from Ssangbangwool, including office rent and a false salary for his daughter. However, specific details regarding the reversal of statements and testimonies-which are at the core of the suspicions surrounding the former president-were not specified in the warrant.

An Busu, President of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association (left), is having a conversation with Ri Jonghyok, Vice Chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, at the International Conference for Peace and Prosperity in the Asia-Pacific held at the Emble Hotel in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. / Goyang ? Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

According to the legal community on December 8, the Human Rights Violation Inspection Task Force (TF) of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office included these allegations in the arrest warrant request for former Ssangbangwool Vice Chairman Bang Yongchul, former director Park, and President An.

The prosecution stated in the warrant that former Vice Chairman Bang and others paid 72.8 million won in office rent on behalf of President An.

It was also noted that 27.05 million won was provided by fabricating employment for President An’s daughter at a Ssangbangwool affiliate and paying her a false salary. Additionally, the footnotes mentioned that Ssangbangwool paid 5 million won in legal fees on behalf of President An.

All of these financial transactions were found to have been carried out by misappropriating Ssangbangwool company funds. Based on this, the prosecution charged former Vice Chairman Bang with occupational embezzlement and President An with embezzlement.

The prosecution also charged former director Park with obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means, after determining that on May 17, he brought soju into the Suwon High Prosecutors’ Office interrogation room. He deceived security staff by making them believe it was water, thereby interfering with the proper execution of official duties.

Furthermore, the prosecution added a charge of breach of trust to the warrant, claiming that the salmon and alcohol provided to former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Seongtae and others at the time were paid for with the company credit card, causing financial loss to the company.

However, the part of the case related to the reversal of statements and testimonies, which was the 'purpose' of these crimes, was not clearly stated in the warrant.

The warrant only included the prosecution’s claim that there was "an intention to influence statements and testimonies," without specifying which statements were to be changed or whether any actual changes took place.

Regarding the seriousness of the crimes listed in the warrant, the prosecution wrote that "regardless of whether President An’s statements and testimonies are consistent with the facts, crimes were committed with the intent to influence investigations and trials, thereby undermining judicial order." The warrant withheld judgment on which specific statements and testimonies were at issue and whether they were factual.

President An was first arrested in November 2022 in connection with a case involving remittances to North Korea. In January of the following year, he appeared as a witness at the trial of former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young and stated that he was "not well aware of the connection with Gyeonggi Province" regarding the remittances to North Korea.

However, three months later, during another trial, when asked by the prosecution whether he was aware that Ssangbangwool Group delivered the expenses for Governor Lee Jaemyung’s visit to North Korea, he reversed his previous testimony, saying, "I heard from a North Korean official that the North initially demanded 5 million dollars for Governor Lee’s visit, but later reduced the amount to either 2 million or 3 million dollars."

After securing the custody of President An and others, the prosecution plans to investigate whether they were coerced into reversing their statements and testimonies in exchange for financial benefits.