[Exclusive] "Ssangboll, delivery of horse saddles to North Korea"... Investigation into North Korea business allegations

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Prosecutors have caught the situation in which former CEO Ssang Bul-Bul, who was arrested on charges of bribing former Gyeonggi Vice Governor Lee Hwa-Young in connection with North Korea business, gave an expensive horse saddle to a North Korean person in 2019.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin reports exclusively.

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In January 2019, Nanos, an affiliate of SsangBallung, hired Ahn Mo, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Exchange Association, who had had exchanges with Gyeonggi-do and North Korea, as an inside director, and added mine development and overseas resource development to its business objectives.

Four months later, in Shenyang, China, Ssangbull signed an agreement to jointly promote the development of tourist destinations with the North Korean National Economic Cooperation Association and, in particular, to contract North Korea's rare earth minerals business rights to Nanos.

As the news became known, the stock price of SsangBall's affiliates soared.

It seems that SsangBul's courtship toward North Korea did not end there.

In November 2019, CEO Bang Ssang-bang met with a North Korean person in Shenyang, China, and it was confirmed as a result of SBS coverage that the prosecution secured data recorded that Bang gave expensive luxury goods to North Korean officials at this time.

The gift list is also said to include expensive horse saddles.

Prosecutors believe that Ssang Bul-Bul may have sent luxury goods that cannot be given to North Korea without the permission of the South Korean authorities, and this situation has also been reported to the National Intelligence Service.

Bang's lawyer and SsangBul Group's representative told SBS that it was "unknown information."

Bang was arrested on the 28th of last month on charges of bribing former Gyeonggi Peace Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young in connection with the North Korean project.

Prosecutors suspect that Ssang Bul-Bul's side gave money to North Korean officials in order to boost the stock price of its affiliates, and they are expanding the investigation.

(Video coverage: Seol Min-hwan, video editing: Hwang Ji-young)