Trial of Ihwa-young stalls again due to disagreement between defendant and defense counsel over witness examination

The trial of former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor Lee Hwa-young, which had been suspended due to a judge recusal request, resumed after 77 days but was once again stalled due to disagreements between the defendant and the defense counsel over the cross-examination of witnesses.

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

On the 9th, the trial of former Deputy Governor Lee on charges including violation of the Specific Crimes Aggravated Punishment Act (bribery) and the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, held before Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Jin-woo), ended after 50 minutes without starting the scheduled witness examination.

Originally, the defense counsel was scheduled to conduct cross-examinations of former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae and Chairman Ahn Bu-soo of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association. When the presiding judge asked the defense counsel whether they were prepared for the witness examination, the defense stated that they would not exercise the right to cross-examination and declined to proceed with the witness examination.

However, former Deputy Governor Lee, seated next to the defense counsel, interrupted and whispered something to the counsel, who then reversed their earlier statement. The defense counsel said, "We intended to impeach the testimonies of Ahn Bu-soo and Kim Seong-tae. Since these witnesses continue their statements with new lies when confronted with evidence, we initially did not want to grant that opportunity (cross-examination), but the defendant suggested reconsidering, so we will submit in writing whether to proceed with cross-examination before the next hearing."

In response, the prosecution said, "There was a disagreement between the defense counsel and the defendant regarding the cross-examination, as has happened before. Cross-examination has been discussed for months, but now, as the verdict approaches, deciding to prepare separately is perplexing. This appears to be an attempt to delay the trial and is judged as an abuse of the right to defense and argument."

The court decided to proceed with the trial after receiving the defense’s position on whether to conduct cross-examination and their opinions on the impeachment witnesses by the next hearing scheduled for the 16th of this month. The trial will continue to be held once a week as before.

Former Deputy Governor Lee was arrested and indicted last October on charges of using corporate cards and vehicles provided by Ssangbangwool Group in exchange for supporting inter-Korean economic cooperation from July 2018 to July 2022. He is also accused of registering associates as Ssangbangwool Group employees to receive false salaries.

Additionally, he has been indicted on charges related to the North Korea remittance case, in which former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae allegedly delivered $8 million to North Korea in 2019, including $5 million for Gyeonggi Province’s smart farm support project and $3 million for then-Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung’s visit to North Korea.

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