The pig farm business and the 2019 smart farm project, while having different justifications, are analyzed to have similar structures where cooperative projects were intertwined with separate payments.

Lee Hwa-young, former Gyeonggi Province Peace Vice Governor, a key figure in the illegal inter-Korean remittance in 2006, and North Korean official Ri Ho-nam. 

There has been a back-and-forth debate in the National Assembly concerning these two individuals. Even the current Director of the National Intelligence Service has been involved, but former Ssangbangul Vice Chairman Bang Yong-cheol, who testified as a witness at the hearing, has maintained his court testimony, showing no signs of yielding to the ruling party's wishes.

The recent controversy is focused on the claim that "Ri Ho-nam was not on the attendee list for the 'International Conference for Peace and Prosperity in Asia-Pacific' hosted by Gyeonggi Province in Manila, Philippines, in July 2019," but there is a more fundamental issue at stake. 

When comparing the pig farm project phase of 2006-2007 with the smart farm and visit to North Korea expenses phase of 2019 side-by-side, the name Ri Ho-nam repeatedly appears outside of official inter-Korean channels.

Ri Ho-nam has long been mentioned in North Korea's contact lines with South Korea and its unofficial business dealings.

Both Ri Jeong-ho, formerly of the Workers' Party of Korea's Bureau 39, and former intelligence officials who contacted Hankookilbo have jointly identified Ri Ho-nam as the central figure in unofficial contact lines.

In a recent interview, Ri Jeong-ho argued that Ri Ho-nam was not just a ground-level operative but also managed fund transfers, contact with South Korea, and reporting channels. A former intelligence official evaluated that his explanations regarding inter-Korean relations, the utilization of the ruling party, and the operation of unofficial contact lines generally align with the facts. 

At this point, it is necessary to revisit the recent claim made by the political sphere: "Ri Ho-nam was not on the official event list in the Philippines."

An official list, after all, only represents the official delegation. If the prosecution had identified Ri Ho-nam as a South Korea-targeting operative of the North Korean State Security Department from the indictment stage, it would be more unnatural to track him in the same way as an official event attendee.

The criticism that concluding his absence from the site solely based on his name not being on the list is logically flawed is therefore emerging.

Based on a comprehensive review of public reports, indictment details, and related circumstances, it appears that Lee Hwa-young was connected with Ri Ho-nam on multiple occasions during the Beijing contact in 2006, his visit to Pyongyang, and the visit of former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan in 2007.

During the visit to Pyongyang in December 2006, Ri Ho-nam was known to be the contact point with the North Korean side, and during Lee Hae-chan's visit in March 2007, evidence suggests Ri Ho-nam was Lee Hwa-young's North Korean counterpart.

This structure becomes clearer when the 2006-2007 pig farm project and the 2019 smart farm project are overlaid.

In 2006, it is known that North Korea presented conditions such as $500,000 in cash or the construction of a pig farm during the period of Lee Hae-chan's visit and subsequent high-level contacts.

In the 2019 Ssangbangul case, suspicions of paying $5 million for the smart farm project and $3 million for the visit to North Korea were the central focus of the indictment.

Although the project names were different, the structure where a cooperative project is visible upfront and separate payments and back-channel contacts follow behind is strikingly similar. While the justifications differed, the method by which North Korea linked cooperative projects with separate payments was similar.

This is the background for the interpretation that in 2019, along with the official line of the North Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee including Song Myung-cheol, Kim Sung-hye, and Ri Jong-hyok, Ri Ho-nam's back channel, identified by the prosecution as a South Korea-targeting operative of the State Security Department, may have also been operating in parallel.

In this regard, it is also worth revisiting the testimony given by Lee Jong-seok, Director of the National Intelligence Service, as a witness in Lee Hwa-young's trial in 2023.

Lee Jong-seok testified in court that inter-Korean cooperation projects require approval from the Minister of Unification and that it is not logically sound for local governments to interfere in private companies' inter-Korean projects.

He also definitively stated that cash support is a "criminal act" and testified that the attempt to facilitate the then-Gyeonggi Governor's visit to North Korea was practically impossible given the flow of inter-Korean relations or an "abnormal attempt." His testimony indicated that "such an event would be difficult to materialize within a normal system."

However, since the Supreme Court has finalized the conspiracy charges for the $8 million remittance to North Korea, his words now carry a different meaning.

The fact that something that would be difficult to achieve through normal administration actually occurred now serves to indirectly highlight that it was an abnormal and illegal act pursued outside of the established system.

Ultimately, the core of this case is not merely whether a name is on a list or not. More importantly, the name Ri Ho-nam repeatedly appears behind official cooperative projects, both in 2006 and 2019.

Removing a name does not erase the structure. The similar structure of the two incidents, separated by time, actually highlights the nature of the back-channel contacts surrounding Ri Ho-nam more intensely.