Deceased Former Secretary Lee Jae-myung Appears 23 Times in Seongnam FC Arrest Warrant

Jeon Mo, who worked as the chief secretary to Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and was found dead at his home on the 9th, has been confirmed to appear multiple times as an accomplice to Lee in the arrest warrant related to the 'Seongnam FC sponsorship fund suspicion' case.

On the morning of the 10th, reporters were covering the scene in front of the residence in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, where Jeon Mo, the first chief secretary during Lee Jae-myung's tenure as governor of Gyeonggi Province and the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was found dead.
According to the Seongnam Sujeong Police Station, at around 6:45 PM on the 9th, Jeon Mo, the former chief secretary to the governor of Gyeonggi Province, was found dead at his home by his wife, who reported it.
The police are investigating the case based on the circumstances and evidence at the scene, currently considering it a possible suicide. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 10th, Jeon's name appears 23 times in the arrest warrant for Lee, which the prosecution requested on the 28th of last month.

The prosecution specifically mentioned Jeon as Lee's messenger and negotiation channel in describing the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund suspicion. The prosecution stated that Jeon, who was the Director of the Administrative Planning Bureau (Grade 4) of Seongnam City at the time, was responsible for overseeing major issue responses under Lee's instructions and for reviewing, establishing, and promoting various policies and major plans. After Lee took office as governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2018, Jeon served as his chief secretary.

The prosecution also viewed that in early November 2014, Jeon met with a Naver government affairs officer and conveyed Lee's intention to have Naver sponsor Seongnam FC with 5 billion KRW in exchange for purchasing a site owned by Seongnam City in Gumi-dong.

Jeon, along with Lee's closest aide Jeong Jin-sang, former Political Coordination Officer of Lee's office (then Policy Secretary of Seongnam City), continuously met with Naver representatives for follow-up negotiations. Both sides ultimately agreed on a sponsorship amount of 4 billion KRW on the condition that Naver would purchase a site in Jeongja-dong instead of Gumi-dong. To conceal the fact that the sponsorship funds came from Naver, it was also investigated that the funds were routed through 'Hope Sallim,' operated by another close aide of Lee, former lawmaker Je Yoon-kyung.

The arrest warrant included that Jeon later played the role of a practical negotiation channel, meeting several times with Naver officials at Seongnam City Hall and elsewhere to discuss detailed conditions for receiving the sponsorship funds.

According to the prosecution's investigation, when negotiations between Naver and Seongnam FC officials did not proceed smoothly, Naver designated Jeon, a Seongnam city official who had been in prior consultation with former officer Jeong, as the direct channel.

Subsequently, Naver proposed various petitions through Jeon related to building construction permits, designation of neighborhood living facilities in the new building, and increasing the maximum floor area ratio, all of which were eventually approved.

Meanwhile, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Seongnam Branch stated, "Jeon was video-recorded once on December 26 last year in relation to the Seongnam FC case, and there have been no further investigations or summons since then. There have been no investigations or summons from the prosecution office either." It added, "There was some testimony about the deceased during the recent public trial of former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, but the prosecution has not requested any investigation or summons related to this."

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This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.