Lee Jae-myung Absent Again from Trial for Violation of Public Official Election Act... Proceedings Continue Without Lee

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was absent for the second consecutive time at the trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act on the 27th, prompting the court to proceed with the trial without him.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, is entering the courthouse to attend the trial on the 20th at the Seoul Central District Court regarding the preferential treatment in the development of Daejang-dong and Wirye New Town and the allegations related to Seongnam FC sponsorship funds. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

Lee did not attend the trial held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Kang Gyu-tae) on the grounds of attending the National Defense Committee’s audit.

Accordingly, the court decided to proceed with the trial with only the defense counsel present, without Lee, in accordance with Article 270-2 of the Public Official Election Act. In principle, if the defendant does not appear at the trial date, the trial cannot be held. However, in cases where the charge is a violation of the Public Official Election Act, an exception is applied to expedite the proceedings.

In such cases, if the defendant does not appear at the trial date, the court first reschedules the trial. If the defendant still does not appear, the court may exceptionally proceed with the trial without the defendant.

Previously, Lee was also absent from the trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act held on the 13th, citing attendance at the audit as the reason. The court postponed the trial to that day. The trial, which was last held on August 25, was also scheduled for the 8th and 22nd of last month but was rescheduled by the court due to Lee’s hunger strike and the request for an arrest warrant.

Lee was indicted in September last year on charges of publicly disseminating false information related to the late Kim Moon-gi, former head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, the developer of Daejang-dong, and preferential treatment suspicions in Baekhyeon-dong, just before the last presidential election in 2021, and has been on trial for one year and one month.

Since Lee was absent citing the audit, which concludes on this day, it is expected that he will attend the next trial as before. This trial is held every other Friday.

Lee must attend the Daejang-dong, Wirye, and Seongnam FC suspicion trials handled by the same court’s Criminal Division 33 (Presiding Judge Kim Dong-hyun) on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, 17th, and 21st of next month. Depending on the direction of the trial for the Baekhyeon-dong development preferential treatment suspicion and perjury coaching charges separately assigned to the same division, the burden of court appearances may increase. The prosecution has requested to merge only the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong cases and to expedite the trial for the perjury coaching case separately. On the other hand, Lee’s side insists on merging all three cases.