Court Dismisses Recusal Request for Judge Ihwa-young in 'Suspicion of Sending Money to North Korea' Case

Court: "No Objective Reason to Believe Trial Will Be Unfair"

Former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young, who was on trial for allegations of illicit remittances to North Korea involving Ssangbangwool Group, filed a motion to disqualify the judges but it was dismissed.

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

The Criminal Division 12 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Hwang In-seong) dismissed the motion to disqualify three judges of the Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Jin-woo) filed by former Deputy Governor Lee on the 1st.

The court stated the reason for dismissal, saying, "It is difficult to find any objective circumstances that would reasonably support the suspicion that this trial panel would conduct an unfair trial, and there is no other evidence to recognize this. All claims by the applicant are without merit."

Regarding the defense counsel’s claim that "the court did not restrain the prosecution’s leading questions," the court said, "The court still has room to assess the evidentiary value and probative force of the witness’s testimony," and added, "Moreover, considering that cross-examination of prosecution witnesses Kim Seong-tae and Ahn Bu-soo by the defense is still pending, there are no objective circumstances to conclude that a fair trial cannot be expected."

On the claim that "the court failed to fulfill its duty to clarify unclear issues," the court ruled, "The trial panel did not accept requests for clarification from either the defense or the prosecution in some instances. Considering that, as the applicant claims, the indictment itself is not recognized or contradicts the evidence, the court may have grounds to dismiss the indictment or issue a not guilty verdict. Therefore, it is difficult to see a risk of an unfair trial."

Former Deputy Governor Lee’s defense counsel held a press conference on the 23rd of last month and filed the disqualification motion, citing Article 18, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act, arguing that there is a concern the judges would conduct an unfair trial.

Former Deputy Governor Lee has been on trial since his arrest and indictment on October 14 last year on charges of receiving bribes and political funds worth around 300 million KRW from Ssangbangwool Group. He was additionally indicted on charges of instructing evidence destruction by asking Ssangbangwool to eliminate evidence related to him, and conspiring in the 8 million USD illicit remittance to North Korea by former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae (violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act).

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