Representative Lee's Lawyer: "I Don't Know How Many Times You Have to See It to Understand"
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was indicted on charges of making ‘false statements’ during the presidential election process, denied all charges at his first trial.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of making false statements during the presidential election process, raises his hand as he attends the first trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 3rd. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
At the first hearing held on the 3rd under the jurisdiction of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Kang Gyu-tae), Lee’s side argued that even if he met the late Kim Moon-gi, head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, several times during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam, the expression that he ‘did not know’ Kim was not a false statement.
The defense attorney said, "I do not know what the standard is for saying you know someone after meeting them a certain number of times," adding, "Whether someone is known cannot be proven solely by the content and frequency of experience."
He also emphasized, "The defendant’s statement that ‘he did not know Kim Moon-gi during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam’ is not a specific fact defined by time and place but merely subjective."
He continued, "There are about 2,500 public officials in Seongnam City, and including employees of affiliated organizations, the number reaches 4,000," explaining, "There are 600 team leaders at the same rank as Kim Moon-gi."
Lee was indicted on charges of publicly announcing false information during an interview with a broadcasting company on December 22, 2021, when he was the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, regarding Kim, who was involved in the Daejang-dong development project, stating, "He was a subordinate employee, so I did not know him during my tenure as mayor." Kim was found dead in the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation office the day before Lee’s statement. He was a key figure in the Daejang-dong development project scandal and was under investigation by the prosecution.
Whether Lee knew Kim is considered a key clue to identifying the so-called ‘upper echelon’ in the Daejang-dong case. The prosecution believes that Lee received several face-to-face reports from Kim on major issues of the corporation, including the Daejang-dong development project, in the mayor’s office.
Additionally, Lee was also indicted on charges of making false statements regarding the ‘Baekhyeon-dong preferential treatment suspicion.’ He is accused of making false statements such as "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requested the change of use, and we had no choice but to comply under the Special Act on the Relocation of Public Institutions" during the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s Gyeonggi Province audit on October 20, 2021, concerning the suspicion of preferential treatment in the change of use of the Baekhyeon-dong Korea Food Research Institute site.
The court confirmed the positions of both the prosecution and Lee’s side on the morning of the day. In the afternoon, it plans to examine the evidence submitted by the prosecution.
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