Prosecutors File Charges Against Representative Lee Jae-myung for 'Third-Party Bribery'... Related to Ssangbangwool's North Korea Remittance

The prosecution investigating Ssangbangwool Group's alleged illegal remittance to North Korea has reportedly booked Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on charges of third-party bribery. This is the second time Lee has been investigated by the prosecution on third-party bribery charges, following the Seongnam FC sponsorship fund allegations.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Criminal Division 6 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Young-nam) recently booked Lee without detention in connection with the North Korea remittance allegations. The charge applied is third-party bribery.

Article 130 of the Korean Criminal Act (Third-Party Bribery) stipulates that if a public official receives an illicit request related to their duties and causes or demands or promises a third party to provide a bribe, they shall be punished by imprisonment for up to five years or disqualification for up to ten years.

The prosecution believes that during Lee’s tenure as Governor of Gyeonggi Province, he was involved in the process where former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae covered the $3 million travel expenses to North Korea requested by North Korea for the governor’s visit. Following the indictment of former Gyeonggi Peace Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young in March on charges of receiving bribes from Ssangbangwool, the prosecution additionally indicted him for involvement in illegal foreign exchange transactions related to the North Korea remittance, and in April, further booked him on third-party bribery charges and has been investigating since.

In June, during the prosecution’s investigation, former Deputy Governor Lee reportedly reversed some of his statements and testified that he reported to then-Governor Lee Jae-myung that "Ssangbangwool spent money in North Korea for business, so they probably took care of us (the governor’s visit to North Korea)."

After reviewing former Deputy Governor Lee’s testimony and materials obtained from searches of Gyeonggi Province and the National Intelligence Service, the prosecution judged that the third-party bribery charges also apply to Lee Jae-myung.

Since Lee has been booked as a suspect, it is expected that the prosecution will summon him for questioning soon.

Earlier, on March 22, Lee was indicted on third-party bribery charges related to the illegal sponsorship fund allegations of Seongnam FC and is currently on trial. The allegations claim that during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam, Lee, as the club owner of Seongnam FC, received sponsorship funds exceeding 18 billion won from seven companies?Doosan Construction, Naver, Cha Hospital, Pureun Wirye, Hyundai Department Store, Nonghyup Bank, and Alphadom City?in exchange for various permits and approvals between October 2014 and September 2016.

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