Police concluded it is hard to see SSANGBANGWOOL Group's remittance to North Korea as having been carried out on the orders of President Lee Jae-myung.
According to police on the 14th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's security investigation unit dismissed on the 25th of last month a complaint accusing the president of general collusion with the enemy, abuse of power, and defamation.
Dismissal is a measure that ends an investigation without a determination on the merits when a complaint or the like fails to meet formal requirements.
In Aug. last year, the conservative civic group Committee for the People's Livelihood (Seominwi) filed a complaint against the president on charges including abuse of power and general collusion with the enemy.
The complaint was based on the claim that the president gave instructions to former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young, leading SSANGBANGWOOL Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae to pay $5 million under the pretext of expenses for a North Hwanghae smart farm project and $3 million as expenses for a North Korea visit's protocol.
Earlier, in June last year, the former vice governor was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison on charges including conspiring in SSANGBANGWOOL Group's $8 million remittance to North Korea.
In the notice of investigation results, police said of the abuse of power allegation, "There is no evidence sufficient to recognize that $8 million was provided to North Korea on the suspect's orders."
Police also found no evidence to substantiate the charges of general collusion with the enemy and the like.