'8 Million Dollar North Korea Remittance' Kim Seong-tae, Former Ssangbangwool Chairman, Released on Bail

One Year After Detention... Conditions Include 100 Million Won Deposit and Real-Time Location Tracking Device Attachment

Former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae, who was arrested and indicted last February on charges of embezzling around 50 billion KRW from five unlisted companies and remitting 8 million USD to North Korea, will be released on bail on the 23rd.

The Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Shin Jin-woo) approved Kim's bail request on the same day, ordering a bail bond of 10 million KRW (in lieu of a bail bond insurance certificate) and the attachment of a real-time location tracking device.

Kim's attorney told reporters after the closed bail hearing on the 19th, "The defendant poses no risk of destroying evidence or fleeing, so we requested that he be allowed to stand trial without detention going forward." It is known that Kim's side submitted a statement to the court pledging not to meet related parties while out on bail.

Kim applied for bail on the 20th of last month, ahead of the expiration of his court detention period on March 3. According to the Criminal Procedure Act, the maximum detention period for a defendant who has been arrested and indicted is six months.

Former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae, who was caught in Thailand while on the run abroad, returning through Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 on January 17, 2022. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Kim was issued an arrest warrant on January 20 last year during the prosecution investigation stage, and was arrested and indicted on February 3 of the same year. He was additionally indicted in July on charges of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, leading to a reissuance of the arrest warrant. Kim's lawyer said, "If the deposit is processed smoothly and the prosecution's release order is delivered to the detention center accordingly, we expect the defendant to be released as early as this evening."

Kim was arrested and indicted on charges of embezzling 53.8 billion KRW from five unlisted companies (paper companies) established under the names of Ssangbangwool Group executives and employees, and of causing the group’s affiliates to improperly support about 1.1 billion KRW (breach of trust). He is also charged with violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act by paying 5 million USD for North Korea smart farm support projects in Gyeonggi Province in 2019 and 3 million USD for the North Korea visit expenses of Lee Jae-myung, then Governor of Gyeonggi Province and current leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Additional charges against Kim include violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes by causing Ssangbangwool to purchase Vivian shares held by Kwanglim at an inflated price 7.8 billion KRW higher than their fair value in December 2020, thereby giving Kwanglim an unfair benefit.

Meanwhile, the court also approved the bail request of Kim’s brother-in-law, Kim Mo, former head of finance at Ssangbangwool, who is currently on trial after being arrested and indicted on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust.

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