South Korea's Lee Hwa-young sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison for illegally transferring funds to North Korea

Lee Hwayeong, former Vice Governor of Gyeonggi Province, was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison in connection with the case of the South Korean clothing manufacturer Sanbangul Group illegally transferring a huge amount of money to North Korea.
This is a two-year reduction from the first trial. On the 19th, the Suwon High Court's Criminal Division 1 indicted Lee on charges of bribery under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specified Crimes, violations of the Political Funds Act, and violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
The appeals court ruled on the allegations, overturning the original ruling and sentencing him to seven years and eight months in prison, a fine of 250 million won, and a surcharge of 325.95 million won.
Lee is accused of receiving more than 334 million won in political funds and bribes from the group over a four-year period from 2018 to 2022.
The group was indicted in October 2022 and March last year on suspicion of conspiring to transfer $8 million to North Korea. The core of this illegal transfer case is that Gyeonggi Province is
The group paid for the $5 million in smart farm project support costs decided in 2016 and the $3 million in travel expenses for the Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who was then the governor of Gyeonggi Province.
In the first trial, Vice Governor Lee was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison in June (one year and six months for violating the Political Funds Act and eight years for bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act).
), a fine of 250 million won, and a surcharge of 325.95 million won.