Trial of Ihwa-young Likely to Proceed as Scheduled Today... Focus on Appointment of Public Defender

Lee Hwa-young, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province and a key figure in Ssangbangwool Group's North Korea remittance case, is expected to stand trial alone without legal representation on the 22nd. Amid repeated disruptions in the trial due to a series of lawyers resigning, including the law firm Haegwang withdrawing its defense the day before, attention is focused on whether a public defender will be appointed.

Former Vice Governor of Peace of Gyeonggi Province, Lee Hwa-young [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community, the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Shin Jin-woo) will hold the 43rd hearing of former Deputy Governor Lee, who was indicted on charges including violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, as scheduled at 10 a.m. that day.

Originally, witness examinations of Kim Sung-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, and Ahn Bu-soo, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Cooperation Association, were scheduled for this trial, but it is uncertain whether they will proceed as planned. The issue of appointing a lawyer for former Deputy Governor Lee must be resolved first. Currently, Lee has no lawyer to assist him in the trial. Although two lawyers, including Hyun Geun-taek, remain listed as Lee’s defense attorneys in the records, they have only attended Lee’s prosecution investigations a few times and have never participated in the trial. Article 12, Paragraph 4 of our Constitution stipulates that an arrested or detained suspect has the right to legal counsel, and if a criminal defendant cannot secure a lawyer on their own, the state shall appoint one according to the law. If Lee does not appoint a private lawyer before the trial begins that day, the court is expected to decide to appoint a public defender. The prosecution may also request the appointment of a public defender again on this day. Earlier, on the 8th, when the trial was repeatedly disrupted due to the lawyer issue, the prosecution requested the court to "take measures so that the defendant can proceed with the next trial even through a public defender."

The trial is expected to normalize only after Lee’s lawyer appointment is finalized, likely on the 29th. The prosecution’s plan to summon Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for investigation based on Lee Hwa-young’s court testimony is also likely to be postponed by another week. In a recent prosecution investigation, Lee Hwa-young reportedly testified that "Ssangbangwool requested the Gyeonggi Province governor to visit North Korea," and that he reported to Lee Jae-myung, then governor and now Democratic Party leader, that "Ssangbangwool spent money in North Korea while doing business, so the governor probably paid attention (to the visit)." This testimony attracted attention. Lee had planned to make the same statement in court but was unable to speak for about a month due to the lawyers’ sudden resignations.

If Lee reiterates this position in court, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office Criminal Division 6 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) is expected to summon Lee Jae-myung in early to mid-next month. Based on Lee Hwa-young’s testimony and evidence, the prosecution believes that Ssangbangwool sent $3 million to North Korea in 2019 to facilitate the then-Gyeonggi Province governor Lee’s visit to North Korea, which constitutes a third-party bribery offense. After the investigation, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Eom Hee-jun), which is investigating the ‘Baekhyeon-dong development corruption’ case, is reportedly considering merging the cases and filing a detention warrant.

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