Court Temporarily Restricts Access to Judgment Document on Lee Hwa-young's 'Remittance to North Korea' Case

Over 300 Pages, Significant NIS Secrets
Accessible for Inspection by Prosecutors, Defendants, and Other Parties

The court decided to temporarily restrict public access to the verdict documents related to the case of former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young's illegal remittance to North Korea, which was sentenced on the 7th.

The Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Shin Jin-woo) on the 10th issued a decision to restrict the viewing and provision of the verdict documents in the case of former Deputy Governor Lee, who was sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison and fined 250 million won in the first trial on charges including bribery under the Special Act on the Punishment of Specific Crimes, violation of the Political Funds Act, violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, and obstruction of evidence.

It has been reported that a significant portion of the verdict documents of former Deputy Governor Lee reflected contents from classified National Intelligence Service documents, classified as Level 2 secrets.

The court has been reviewing the legal and technical aspects of whether to provide access to the verdict documents without registering them electronically immediately after the sentencing. The verdict documents are known to exceed 300 pages.

On January 13, 2020, at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government briefing room, Lee Hwa-young, then Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, is briefing on the direction of peace cooperation policies and inter-Korean exchange projects. [Photo provided by Gyeonggi Province. Resale and DB prohibited]

However, the parties involved in the case, including the defendant, defense attorneys, and prosecution, are allowed to view the verdict documents. Restrictions apply only when individuals other than the parties request access through the court’s website.

The controversial National Intelligence Service documents included content suggesting that in 2018, a North Korean official requested a payment of 5 million dollars for a smart farm project to former Deputy Governor Lee and former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae. The court considered this report content significantly and used it as one of the grounds to find former Deputy Governor Lee guilty of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the regulations on providing verdict documents via email stipulates 'restriction on provision of verdict documents,' allowing restrictions if the information is subject to non-disclosure under the Act on Disclosure of Information by Public Agencies.

Non-disclosable information includes information classified as secret or confidential under other laws, matters related to national security, defense, unification, diplomatic relations, etc., where disclosure is recognized to pose a significant risk of harming the nation’s vital interests.

Additionally, the Criminal Procedure Act restricts viewing and copying of verdict documents in cases where the trial was conducted in closed sessions or where there is a clear risk of seriously harming national security.

In the case of former Deputy Governor Lee, all trials involving witness examination of National Intelligence Service employees and hearings on secret documents prepared by those employees were conducted in closed sessions.

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