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Appellate court sentences ex-Gyeonggi vice governor to 7 years, 8 months for illegal payments to North Korea

Published: 19 Dec. 2024, 17:43

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor for of Gyeonggi, speaks at a National Assembly hearing on Oct. 25. [NEWS1]

An appellate court sentenced Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor of Gyeonggi, to seven years and eight months in prison on Thursday over involvement in underwear maker Ssangbangwool (SBW) Group’s alleged illegal remittances to North Korea.

The Suwon High Court sentenced Lee for violating the Political Funds Act and Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. with an additional fine of 250 million won ($172,000) and a surcharge of 325 million won.

This is reduced from the Suwon District Court's sentence of nine and a half years imprisonment on June 7 for helping Ssangbangwool Group transfer payments totaling $8 million to North Korea between 2019 and 2020.

Concurring with the lower court's ruling, the appellate bench found that Ssangbangwool’s payments to North Korea were to cover expenses for the Gyeonggi provincial government's smart farm project and to pay North Korea for a potential visit to Pyongyang by Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, then Gyeonggi governor.

Bang Yong-cheol, vice chairman of Ssangbangwool, who was also indicted on charges of bribing Lee Hwa-young, was sentenced to two years in prison with a three-year probation, the same as the first sentence.

Kim Seong-tae, the former chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, was previously indicted by prosecutors on suspicion of embezzling from five of Ssangbangwool’s unlisted subsidiaries and violating the foreign exchange laws by handing money to the North.

“Kim committed the crime of violating the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, and the circumstances of the payment of expenses included the intention of Ssangbangwool Group to proceed with its own North Korea business, but Lee is also responsible for requesting payment of the smart farm expenses,” the court said, acknowledging that Ssangbangwool Group’s payments to North Korea included Gyeonggi provincial government’s expenses.

This ruling is expected to impact the ongoing trial of DP leader Lee Jae-myung regarding the Ssangbangwool Group's payments to North Korea and third-party bribery allegations.

Prosecutors indicted Lee Jae-myung without detention on June 12 on charges of conspiring with Lee Hwa-young to have Kim pay $8 million to North Korea between 2019 and 2020 and promising Kim “support and guarantees from Gyeonggi's provincial government for the Ssangbangwool Group’s North Korea business” in return.

Prosecutors had applied for an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-myung in September last year on multiple charges that included allegations tying him to the North Korean payments case, but the Seoul Central District Court refused to approve the warrant.

BY CHOI MO-RAN, LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]