SUWON, South Korea-- The prosecution plans to question a former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province next week as part of an investigation into a business group's alleged cash remittances to North Korea, a case potentially linked to opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, officials said Friday.

The district prosecutors' office in Suwon, 34 kilometers south of Seoul, has summoned Lee Hwa-young to appear next Wednesday for questioning over his involvement in underwear maker Ssangbangwool Group's foreign currency transfers to the North.

The group is accused of transferring US$8 million to North Korea via China on behalf of Gyeonggi Province in 2019, when Lee Jae-myung was its governor.

Of the total, the prosecution suspects $5 million was delivered for Gyeonggi's smart farm support program in the North and the remainder was intended to facilitate then Gov. Lee's planned visit to Pyongyang.

Lee Jae-myung is now chair of the main opposition Democratic Party.

The prosecution is investigating whether the payment was made in return for the Gyeonggi government's promises of business favors and support for Ssangbangwool in connection with future cooperation projects with North Korea.

At that time Lee Hwa-young, a close confidant of the opposition leader, oversaw the province's cooperation projects with the North.

Kim Seong-tae, former chair of Ssangbangwool, reportedly told investigators he spoke with Lee Jae-myung on Lee Hwa-young's phone over the cash remittances in January 2019.

Lee Hwa-young was arrested in September and indicted the following month for taking bribes from the group between 2018 and 2022.

Kim was also arrested on Jan. 20 for illegally sending money to North Korea, providing bribes to Lee and embezzling company funds.

Both Lee Jae-myung and Lee Hwa-young claimed they did not know about the cash transfers and that there was no such phone conversation with Kim.

Source: Yonhap News Agency