Ewhayeong: "Ssangbangwool Did Not Ask Lee Jaemyung to Pay for North Korea Visit... No Prior Report"

Former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace, Lee Hwa-young, who had previously partially reversed his position after requesting Ssangbangwool Group to promote a visit to North Korea by the Gyeonggi Province Governor, issued a handwritten statement from prison denying reports that he requested Ssangbangwool to cover the costs of the North Korea visit.

Former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 21st, Lee, in a letter submitted to his lawyer, stated, "I, Lee Hwa-young, have never requested Ssangbangwool (Kim Seong-tae) to cover not only the smart farm costs but also the costs for Governor Lee Jae-myung's visit to North Korea," adding, "Therefore, reports regarding the coverage of Governor Lee Jae-myung's North Korea visit expenses are not true."

He, who was detained at Suwon Detention Center after being indicted on charges including receiving large bribes from Ssangbangwool, released his position three days after the reports about his statement reversal began on the 18th.

Lee explained, "However, in July 2019, at an international conference held in the Philippines, I happened to meet North Korean officials and spoke about Governor Lee's visit to North Korea in the presence of Kim Seong-tae," adding, "I told Kim Seong-tae, who was present, that since North Korea and Ssangbangwool were doing business together, it would be good if he could pay attention to the governor's visit as well." This means he requested cooperation from Ssangbangwool to promote the visit, but did not ask for the visit expenses to be covered.

He added, "This matter was not reported to Governor Lee in advance. It was an impromptu remark and I did not place much importance on it," and said, "I will definitely reveal the truth in court in the future."

Earlier, Lee's lawyer stated at a continuation trial on the 18th regarding charges under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, "The defendant had maintained that he was 'completely unaware and uninvolved' in any request to cover the governor's North Korea visit expenses, but recently, during a prosecutor's interrogation, he testified that he said, 'Please try to promote a visit to North Korea with Ssangbangwool at least once.'"

He also said, "The defendant attended the '2nd Asia-Pacific International Conference for Peace and Prosperity' held in the Philippines in July 2019 (hosted by Gyeonggi Province), and at that time, it seems that Ssangbangwool and North Korea had close contact, so he testified that he said, 'Since you seem to be close to North Korea, please promote the visit to North Korea.'"

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