Choo Kyung-ho: "Lee Jae-myung, Already Guilty in History... Hope to Uphold Justice"

Lee Jae-myung, Party Leader, First Trial Verdict on Public Official Election Act Today
"Lee Jae-myung Couple, Constantly Shifting Blame for Their Own Faults"

Choo Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, launched a fierce attack ahead of the first trial verdict on Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, regarding the Public Official Election Act, saying, "Leader Lee should remember that he is already guilty in history simply for shaking the executive branch, destroying the legislative branch, and intimidating the judiciary to avoid punishment."

On the 14th, Choo Kyung-ho, a member of the People Power Party, is looking at a protest sign condemning the Democratic Party of Korea during the plenary session held at the National Assembly. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

At the floor leaders' meeting held at the National Assembly on the 15th, Choo said, "I hope the judiciary will stand up for justice against Leader Lee's cowardly lies." He added, "The Democratic Party is trying to dismiss today's trial as merely an issue of Leader Lee's memory. However, this case is ultimately about the cowardly lies intentionally repeated to evade political responsibility for the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong corruption scandals."

Choo also said, "Today, the Democratic Party has issued a general mobilization order in Seocho-dong, shouting 'Lee Jae-myung is innocent,'" adding, "This is their final show of force to intimidate the judges until the end."

Choo mentioned that Lee's wife, Kim Hye-kyung, was sentenced to a fine of 1.5 million won in the first trial for violating the Public Official Election Act the previous day. He said, "If the sentence is finalized, Kim will be unable to participate in Leader Lee's official election campaigns for the next five years," adding, "Leader Lee claimed Kim was a scapegoat and insisted on her innocence, but the first trial court pointed out that Kim continuously denied the crime and shifted responsibility to her subordinates, resulting in a guilty verdict."

He continued, "The first trial verdict on Leader Lee himself for violating the Public Official Election Act, which will be announced today, is essentially the same," pointing out, "The couple, Lee Jae-myung and Kim Hye-kyung, have continuously denied their wrongdoing and cowardly shifted all responsibility onto their subordinates."

Leader Lee was indicted on charges of spreading false information during the 2022 presidential election. Among the four trials he faces, this case, which was the first to be indicted in September 2022, is scheduled for a first trial verdict after two years and two months since the indictment. Specifically, the verdict concerns allegations that Leader Lee falsely declared in a broadcast interview that he did not know Kim Moon-gi, former head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, and that during the Gyeonggi Province audit, he claimed the land use change for the Baekhyeon-dong development site was approved due to threats from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, thereby spreading false information to win the election.