In today's (7th) trial of former Gyeonggi Province Peace Vice Governor Lee Hwa-yong, who was arrested and accused of accepting billions in bribes from the Ssangbell Group, prosecutors and defense lawyers debated whether the former deputy governor attended a January 2019 meeting between Ssangbell and the North.

At the trial of the former Lieutenant Governor Lee today, which was held at the hearing of the Criminal Division 1 of the Water Source Land Law, Mr. A, an employee of the Jilin factory in China of the Twin Bell Group, appeared as a witness for the prosecution.

Mr. A has also been detained by the prosecutor's office on suspicion of smuggling foreign currency from the Twin Bell Group.

Prosecutors asked Mr. A whether the former deputy governor and former chairman Kim Song-tae traveled together from the airport to the conference hall when the Ssangbell Group discussed economic cooperation with the DPRK's Asia-Pacific Committee in Shenyang, China, on January 11, 2019.

Mr. A replied, "The rental car was a seven-seater car, and I was in the passenger seat, and in the second row, former Chairman Kim and Lieutenant Governor Lee Hwa-young, and in the third row, Gyeonggi Province officials."

When asked further by the prosecutor, "At that time, Gyeonggi Province officials said that they thought that Anbusu, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association, had prepared a vehicle, but Gyeonggi Province knew that the witness was an employee of Ssangbell at the time," Mr. A replied, "I would have known," and "We exchanged business cards with each other when we arrived at the venue."

"I remember that this former lieutenant governor was also present at the signing ceremony between the Twin Bells Group and the North," Mr. A claimed, "and they were together almost all day."

At a dinner with the North, Mr. A said that former Chairman Kim told the former lieutenant governor, "I spend a lot of money because of my brother. Without my brother, I would never spend this kind of money."

On the other hand, the former lieutenant governor traveled separately from Ssangbell from Shenyang Airport to the hotel conference hall and did not know why Ssangbell came to the meeting hall, drawing a line under the connection between Ssangdrop's business with Gyeonggi Province.

The former lieutenant governor's lawyer explained, "The people of Gyeonggi Province waited outside during the meeting between the two sides and the North in January, and all they said was the greeting at the end after the meeting between the two bells."

"There was no former Lieutenant Governor at the meeting where the Ssangbell Group drafted an economic cooperation letter with the North Korean National Economic Cooperation Association in Dandong, China, in May of the same year," he said, asserting that "the May meeting, where a detailed economic cooperation document was drafted, is more important than the January meeting."

The former lieutenant governor was implicated in the 1 Ssangbell Group's remittance case to North Korea and has been charged with smuggling foreign currency (a violation of the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act).

Prosecutors believe that the former lieutenant governor demanded that former Chairman Kim Sung-tae pay $17 million to support Gyeonggi Province's North Korea project, Smart Farm.

(Photo = Yonhap News)