DP chief denies payments made to North for visit

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DP chief denies payments made to North for visit

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

 
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday denied that an underwear company paid millions of dollars to Pyongyang in an attempt to secure for him a visit to North Korea.  
 
According to reports by South Korean domestic media on Monday that cited anonymous prosecution officials, Kim Seong-tae — the former chairman of the Ssangbangwool (SBW) group — told prosecutors that he gave $8 million in total to North Korean officials he met in China.
 
Kim allegedly told investigators that $3 million was payment for Pyongyang’s agreement to allow Lee to visit the North, and that he confirmed the deal in a phone call with Lee that was arranged by then-Gyeonggi deputy governor, Lee Hwa-young.
 
Lee Jae-myung served as governor of Gyeonggi from 2018 until he resigned the post in October 2021 to run for the presidency, while Lee Hwa-young served as the province’s deputy governor from 2018 to January 2020.
 
The alleged phone call between Kim and Lee Jae-myung took place during a January 2019 meeting in China with North Korean officials where both Kim and Lee Hwa-young were present, according to prosecution officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to local media.
 
Lee Hwa-young was arrested in September on charges of accepting bribes from SBW in return for business favors related to inter-Korean economic projects.
 
Speaking at the National Assembly on Tuesday, Lee Jae-myung denied the media reports regarding Kim’s alleged testimony to prosecutors, calling it “a newly scripted novel by the prosecution” that was “unlikely to sell.”
 
The DP leader also denied ever meeting Kim.
 
In an interview with KBS on Jan. 18, Lee also said he did not recall speaking to the SBW chairman over the phone.
 
Kim was extradited from Thailand to South Korea on Jan. 17, having been on the run since the end of May.
 
Speaking on condition of anonymity to the JoongAng Ilbo, prosecutors said that SBW employees told them Kim gave North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a saddle made by luxury brand Hermès in late 2019 to clinch business deals with the North.
 
SBW executives were said to have handed over the gift to North Korean officials in China in November 2019, along with millions of dollars embezzled from the company’s coffers that was smuggled out of South Korea in their luggage.
 
The gift and cash was allegedly handed to officials from Pyongyang’s state-controlled Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which is in charge of inter-Korean exchanges.
 
The leaked allegation that Lee was aware of a payment by SBW to secure his visit to North Korea is the latest accusation of criminal wrongdoing against him to emerge in recent days.
 
Yoo Dong-kyu, the former acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation, speaks to reporters after exiting the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Yoo Dong-kyu, the former acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation, speaks to reporters after exiting the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Yoo Dong-kyu — the former acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation who is being tried on charges that he skewed the profit distribution structure of the Daejang-dong development in Seongnam, Gyeonggi to favor small asset management company Hwacheon Daeyu and its affiliates — issued a statement via his attorney on Monday that seemingly blamed Lee for abandoning his supporters who now face criminal prosecution.
 
“It is lamentable that the leader of a major political party is using his power to try to pass the blame [for wrongdoing] onto powerless individuals who helped him,” Yoo said in the statement, which was released shortly after he left his trial at the Seoul Central District Court.
 
Yoo’s attorney also claimed that if Yoo had intended to claim his stake in the Daejang-dong development, he “would have created a safety mechanism, such as a contract,” but that he did not because “it was assumed that stake belonged to Lee and no one would go after it.”
 
Prosecutors recently summoned Lee for a second round of questioning about two development projects in Seongnam, Gyeonggi — Wirye and Daejang-dong — from which he allegedly profiteered while serving as mayor of the city from 2010 to 2018.
 
Hwacheon Daeyu raked in a profit of 57.7 billion won ($48.3 million) on an investment of 49.95 million won, which was a 1 percent stake in the project’s mixed public-private development consortium. The company also collected 300 billion won from sales of apartments in the development, while its Cheonhwa Dongin affiliates reaped in an additional 400 billion won in revenue.  
 
Lawyer Nam Wook, another key figure in the Daejang-dong case, testified at his trial in November that Cheonhwa Dongin No. 1 “belonged to” Lee, and that he heard this from Kim Man-bae, the owner of Hwacheon Daeyu.
 
Suspicions regarding the project’s profit structure have centered around the relationship between Lee and Kim, who as a journalist interviewed then-mayor Lee in 2014. Lee and Kim have both denied they have any kind of financial relationship.
 
While Kim himself has claimed he is the owner of Cheonhwa Dongin No. 1, others such as accountant Jeong Young-hak and Yoo have not only changed their testimonies and said that Lee has a secret stake in the company, but also said that they promised to pass on 42.8 billion won to Lee through his close acquaintances — including Jeong Jin-sang and Kim Yong, both DP aides to Lee who were arrested last year under suspicion of committing corruption and bribery in the case.
 

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
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