Lee Hwayoung's Team Considers Retrial in 'Ssangbangwool North Korea Remittance' Case... "New NIS Documents Confirmed"

“Prosecutor Park Sangyong’s Disciplinary Proceedings May Also Provide Grounds for Retrial”
Supreme Court Upholds Seven Years and Eight Months Prison Sentence

The legal team for Lee Hwayoung, former Deputy Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, who has received a finalized prison sentence in the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case, is moving to file for a retrial based on newly discovered materials from the National Intelligence Service and other evidence.

Attorney Minseok Seo, who represented former Gyeonggi Province Deputy Governor for Peace Ewhayoung, held a press conference on the 6th in front of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, regarding the submission of phone recording evidence related to Ssangbangwool's North Korea remittance case and expressed his position. 2026.4.6 Photo by Kang Jinhyung

According to the legal community, on October 5, Lee's legal team stated, “We are actively discussing the possibility of filing for a retrial,” adding, “The emergence of new National Intelligence Service documents that were not submitted as evidence during the finalized verdict may constitute grounds for a retrial under the law.”

The team further cited the disciplinary proceedings involving Prosecutor Park Sangyong, who led the investigation of the North Korea remittance case at the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office at the time, insisting, “If the legality of the investigative procedures is called into question during the disciplinary process, this could also provide grounds for a retrial.” They added that the legal team is also reviewing response strategies, given that a separate investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is currently underway.

Regarding the possibility of a special pardon, the team said, “It is a separate procedure,” and added, “We cannot delay the retrial process due to uncertainty about a possible pardon.”

Previously, in April, National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jongseok stated during a parliamentary investigation that, under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the National Intelligence Service had submitted only a portion of the North Korea remittance-related reports to prosecutors. He further explained that numerous documents that were not presented in court had also been discovered, including intelligence that Kim Sungtae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool, and others had attempted stock manipulation under the pretext of inter-Korean projects.

In response, Prosecutor Park argued regarding the National Intelligence Service materials, “We seized and submitted to the court all documents, including those suggesting the possibility of Ssangbangwool’s solo involvement in stock manipulation,” and claimed that the court had rejected them due to low credibility.

Last June, Lee was convicted by the Supreme Court and received a sentence of seven years and eight months in prison, a fine of 250 million won, and a forfeiture order of 325.95 million won, on charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

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