South Korea Prosecutor rejects claims in North Korea transfer probe

April 14 (Asia Today) -- A South Korean prosecutor who led the investigation into the Ssangbangwool Group's alleged transfer of funds to North Korea said there is no factual basis for claims that investigators withheld internal intelligence documents or manipulated the case.

Park Sang-yong, a deputy chief prosecutor at the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, made the remarks in an interview with Asia Today ahead of a National Assembly hearing on the case Tuesday.

The parliamentary inquiry, led by lawmakers aligned with President Lee Jae-myung, has cast the investigation as a politically motivated prosecution. Critics in legal circles have said the inquiry risks turning the legislature into a venue for re-litigating matters that have already been decided in court or are still under trial.

Park said accusations that prosecutors omitted National Intelligence Service documents that could have offered a more balanced view of the case were not true.

National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-seok said earlier this month that prosecutors received only 13 of 66 agency reports related to Ssangbangwool. He said a prosecutor assigned to the agency's inspection unit reviewed the full set, selected 13 documents and instructed staff to prepare only those materials for a search and seizure.

Park disputed that account, saying prosecutors moved to secure the materials through lawful procedures after learning of their existence from testimony by former Gyeonggi Vice Gov. Lee Hwa-young.

He said searches involving an intelligence agency required consultation with the agency head and court oversight. Prosecutors first considered voluntary procedures, including official requests and fact-finding inquiries, before a court ultimately issued a warrant, he said.

Park said the search took place in an internal intelligence agency space known as the "white room," where most of the more than 100 pages of documents had already been redacted. He said agency officials selected the relevant portions and then decided, through consultation, whether the materials could be taken out.

"It was not a structure in which the prosecution could unilaterally take materials," Park said.

He said multiple intelligence officials were present during the search and that confidentiality agreements were signed before the warrant was executed.

Park also said the materials included information unfavorable to prosecutors, including details suggesting Ssangbangwool had attempted on its own to boost its stock price. He said those materials were also submitted to the court, admitted into evidence and shared with the defense.

He rejected claims that prosecutors cherry-picked only favorable evidence.

Park also denied allegations that the presidential office under former President Yoon Suk Yeol interfered in the investigation. A special counsel team is examining whether Yoon or his office received reports on the case and whether there were procedural violations.

Park said his contact with prosecutors assigned to the intelligence agency's inspection division was limited to procedural coordination and did not involve instructions or the sharing of investigative details. He said those consultations were reported to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

"If a president intervened, that itself would be a serious abuse of state power," he said.

Park also dismissed accusations that he had pressured former Vice Gov. Lee, saying Lee was a key witness and informant in the case.

"An investigation is not about extracting a confession but about correcting statements that do not align with the facts," he said.

-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260413010003973

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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 3:01 PM.