Former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young, who appeared as a witness at a hearing related to the Ssangbangul North Korea remittance case held by the parliamentary special committee for the investigation into the truth of allegations of politically motivated indictments by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, answers questions from lawmakers on April 14. [Yonhap News]

Prosecutors have requested a sentence of 2 years imprisonment and a fine of 5 million won for former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young, who was indicted on charges including perjury related to an alleged drinking party in the prosecutor's office, violation of the Political Funds Act, and abuse of power.

At the closing trial for former Vice Governor Lee, which was held before the Suwon District Court's Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Song Byung-hoon) on the 19th, the prosecution requested this sentence from the court.

The prosecution requested 2 years imprisonment for charges including violation of the National Assembly Testimony and Evidence Act (perjury), violation of the Local Finance Act, obstruction of justice through deceit, and abuse of power. For the charge of violating the Political Funds Act, a separate fine of 5 million won was requested.

In the closing trial on this day, the prosecutor spent approximately three hours from 9:30 AM explaining to the jury why the charges should be deemed guilty, through a PPT presentation.

After concluding their statement, the prosecutor explained, "The sentencing was determined considering that the defendant denies the charges and that the case is in a relation of concurrent offenses with a previously finalized case for violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, among other reasons."

Concurrent offenses refer to a situation where, while a case has already been finalized, another crime committed before the finalization of that judgment is belatedly indicted and tried.

The prosecution further explained the statutory penalties for each charge and added, "For the charge of obstruction of justice through deceit, the base range of 8 months to 1 year and 6 months imprisonment was applied, as there were no mitigating or aggravating factors according to the Supreme Court's sentencing guidelines. There are no sentencing guidelines for the remaining charges."

They continued, "To clarify the request for 2 years imprisonment, the prosecution has made this request with consideration for the court's sentencing discretion, which can typically reduce the sentence by up to half of the statutory penalty, and the possibility of a suspended sentence depending on the circumstances."

Former Vice Governor Lee was indicted in February of last year for allegedly giving false testimony with the implication that "there was a salmon drinking party for the purpose of fabricating testimony in Room 1313 of the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office" when he appeared as a witness at a parliamentary hearing on the impeachment of prosecutors for the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on October 2, 2024.

He is also accused of compelling former Ssangbangul Chairman Kim Seong-tae to make "split donations" for Lee Jae-myung during the Gyeonggi gubernatorial election and the Democratic Party's presidential primary (violation of the Political Funds Act), and of pushing ahead with the North Korea support project improperly, disregarding the objections of the working-level staff during his tenure as vice governor (abuse of power).

This trial has been conducted as a jury trial for the past ten days, from the 8th to today.

After the defense's final plea and the defendant's final statement are concluded this afternoon, the jury will deliberate, and the court will deliver the final verdict.

Given that the jury's deliberation is expected to take a considerable amount of time, it is highly likely that the verdict will be delivered after midnight today.