Democratic Party Condemns Lee Jae-myung's First Trial Prison Sentence as "Political Verdict Supporting Elimination of Rivals"

Democratic Party, Emergency Joint Meeting of Lawmakers and Regional Committee Chairs
Scheduled to Discuss Countermeasures

The Democratic Party of Korea criticized on the 16th regarding the sentencing of Representative Lee Jae-myung for violating the Public Official Election Act, stating, "The president who is fully committed to eliminating political rivals and the political judgment that sympathizes with this cannot go against public sentiment."

In a briefing, spokesperson Han Min-su said about the sentencing the previous day, "They are trying to silence the allegations of state affairs manipulation and election interference related to President Yoon Seok-yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee by sacrificing only Representative Lee, the leader of the main opposition party," expressing this view.

He added, "The first trial ruling has made the purpose of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's 'presidential political rival elimination,' which it has been fully committed to for half of its term, even clearer," and condemned, "Since democratization in 1987, has there ever been a regime that mercilessly tried to eliminate the opponent who lost the presidential election like this?"

He also claimed, "Even prominent conservative commentators criticized yesterday's ruling as incorrect, and lawmakers from the People Power Party with legal backgrounds predicted fines of less than 1 million won."

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Han Sung-jin) sentenced Representative Lee to one year in prison with a two-year probation the previous day. If this ruling is confirmed by the Supreme Court, not only will Representative Lee be unable to run in the next presidential election, but the Democratic Party will also have to return the 43.4 billion won in election expenses reimbursed from the last presidential election.

The Democratic Party plans to hold an emergency joint meeting of lawmakers and regional committee heads in the afternoon to discuss countermeasures.