Lee Hwa-young gets 7y and 8m

[Anchor]

Former Gyeonggi Province Peace Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young has been sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison for colluding in the remittance to North Korea involving the SBW(Ssangbangwool) Group.

In connection with this case, President Lee Jae-myung was also separately indicted last year, and his first trial is currently underway.

This is a report by reporter Gong Min-kyung.

[Report]

The so-called 'illegal remittance to North Korea case' in which the SBW Group remitted 8 million dollars to North Korea on behalf of Gyeonggi Province.

Former Gyeonggi Province Peace Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young was indicted for receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions from SBW and colluding in the remittance to North Korea.

Both the first and second trial courts determined that SBW covered the costs of Gyeonggi Province's smart farm project amounting to 1.64 million dollars and the North Korea visit expenses of then-Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung, amounting to 2.3 million dollars.

The former vice governor was found to have received over 320 million won in bribes from SBW, and most of the charges were acknowledged as guilty.

The first trial sentenced him to 9 years and 6 months in prison, while the second trial sentenced him to 7 years and 8 months, and both sides appealed.

However, the Supreme Court's judgment was the same as the lower court's ruling.

The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's sentence of 7 years and 8 months in prison and a fine of 250 million won for the former vice governor.

The Supreme Court stated, "There was no error that affected the judgment due to misunderstanding of the law in the original ruling."

This ruling acknowledging the illegal remittance to North Korea came right after President Lee took office, and he is also facing trial for the same case after being indicted last year.

However, there are concerns that the trial may be suspended due to the president's inauguration.

The former vice governor's side expressed opposition to the Supreme Court's ruling, claiming that "the prosecution used fabricated evidence as the basis for the guilty verdict."

This is KBS News, Gong Min-kyung.