Ex-Ssangbangwool chairman sentenced to imprisonment over N. Korea remittance scandal

A former chairman of the underwear manufacturer Ssangbangwool Group was sentenced to prison on Friday on charges including illegally remitting US$8 million to North Korea in 2019 on behalf of the Gyeonggi provincial government while opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was governor.

The scandal centers on allegations that Ssangbangwool illegally transferred the U.S. dollars to North Korea in 2019 as expenses for the Gyeonggi government’s inter-Korean smart farms project as well as then Gyeonggi Gov. Lee’s envisioned trip to North Korea.

Prosecutors indicted Lee in June on charges including third-party bribery in connection with the scandal, one of several cases in which Lee is currently standing trial.

Then Gyeonggi Vice Gov. Lee Hwa-young was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison last month as a regional court determined that some of the remittances to North Korea were illegal, a ruling expected to influence the trial of the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party.

Former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Seong-tae was accused of spearheading the remittance in return for favors from the Gyeonggi government in future business projects with North Korea.

Kim was also charged with providing hundreds of millions of won in illegal political funds and bribes to the former vice Gyeonggi governor between 2018 and 2022, including corporate credit cards, a vehicle and others.

The Suwon District Court on Friday sentenced Kim to 2 1/2 years in prison, with an additional one-year prison term suspended for two years, issued separately on the illegal political funding charges.

“By attempting inter-Korean projects without (the compulsory) approval from the unification minister, the remittance resulted in damage to inter-Korean projects that are supposed to be conducted transparently under government supervision,” the court said.

Kim is also highly culpable for “causing diplomatic and security problems by transferring a large sum of money to North Korea,” the court added.