Lee Hwayoung's Lawyer: "Resentment Toward President Was Misrepresented... I Bear Much of the Blame"

"I have never once attacked the president"

Lee Hwayoung, former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace, is serving a prison sentence in connection with the Ssangbangwool remittance-to-North Korea case. His lawyer said, regarding reports that Lee had expressed dissatisfaction with President Lee Jae-myung, "I bear much of the responsibility for his sorrow being distorted into resentment toward the president."

Former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwayoung. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Attorney Kim Kwang-min posted a statement on his personal social media account on October 14 titled "I Convey the Words of Former Vice Governor Lee Hwayoung," saying, "From the beginning until now, former Vice Governor Lee has never once attacked President Lee Jae-myung."

Kim said he visited Lee at Suwon Detention Center on October 13 and rejected as "untrue" reports suggesting that Lee had concealed his dissatisfaction with the president and changed his strategy for securing release. "He did not change his words after things escalated because he had attacked someone, nor did he devise a new, calculated strategy to secure his release," Kim said.

Kim also explained that Lee's feelings of disappointment were not directed at the president. He said Lee's sorrow stemmed from the fact that the harm caused by state violence had long been left unaddressed, and that investigations into and punishment of Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and Assemblyman Han Dong-hoon, who was justice minister at the time, had been delayed. "It was entirely due to my shortcomings that I failed to convey his feelings fully and made them appear to be an attack on the president. I take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to Vice Governor Lee Hwayoung," Kim said.

Kim also said Lee told him during the visit, "I am a victim of state violence perpetrated by an unlawful prosecutorial authority." He added, "It is not an act of benevolence but an unquestionable duty of the state to remedy the harm caused by violence committed by the state."

Kim said they plan to seek redress from the United Nations Human Rights Committee. He explained that they had been unable to find a remedy in South Korea, saying, "The National Human Rights Commission of Korea cannot rule on matters related to ongoing trials."

Kim also relayed Lee's response to some Democratic Party lawmakers who recently said, "Lee Hwayoung's case is different because it involves a personal bribery case." According to Kim, Lee said, "I have always considered the Democratic Party and the Lee Jae-myung administration my comrades. I still do. But branding me a bribery offender is no way to treat a comrade."

In an interview on October 7, Kim had said that Lee was very angry with President Lee and called for him to be released on parole. Lee's side subsequently announced that it would seek a retrial of the final ruling in the remittance-to-North Korea case.

In June 2025, Lee received a final sentence of seven years and eight months in prison in the Ssangbangwool remittance-to-North Korea case, which involved bribery and violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. He has been held at Suwon Detention Center since his arrest in September 2022.

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