The prosecution has appealed the first trial verdict that sentenced Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, to a suspended prison term for violating the Public Official Election Act, citing reasons such as inappropriate sentencing.
On the 22nd, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office stated, "On the 15th, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Lee Jae-myung to one year in prison with a two-year suspension (the prosecution had requested two years in prison) in the first trial of the Public Official Election Act violation case. Today, we filed an appeal on grounds of factual misrecognition, legal misinterpretation, and inappropriate sentencing."
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the 1st Expanded Executive Meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min
They added, "In the appeal trial, the prosecution will prove that the defendant's statements such as 'I did not know Kim Moon-gi' were denials of public and private acts related to Kim Moon-gi and their working relationship, and will make every effort to maintain the prosecution so that a sentence commensurate with the defendant's responsibility can be imposed."
Lee submitted an appeal to the court the day before.
Both sides are expected to engage in another intense legal battle in the second trial at the Seoul High Court.
Lee is accused of publicly announcing two false facts during the last presidential election: that he "did not know the late Kim Moon-gi, former Head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, during his time as mayor of Seongnam," and that "the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport coerced him into changing the land use of Baekhyeon-dong site."
Regarding the statement about former Director Kim, Lee stated that he did not remember Kim, who was a lower-ranking employee, because there were so many staff members at the time. However, after the controversy arose, it was revealed that during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam, Lee went on an overseas trip with former Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation and Kim, played golf together, and that Kim had directly reported to him several times. Former Director Yoo also revealed that during the overseas business trip, Kim drove a two-seater cart with Lee.
Based on such evidence and testimonies from related parties, the prosecution concluded that Lee intentionally denied his relationship with Kim in a broadcast interview the day after Kim, who was the person in charge, took an extreme step to hide Lee's involvement in the Daejang-dong corruption scandal.
Regarding the statement about the background of the land use change in Baekhyeon-dong, the prosecution's judgment is that Lee, who had campaigned on a pledge that "residential development is not allowed," suddenly changed his stance and changed the land use of the site, which was a natural green area, to a quasi-residential area by as much as four levels vertically, excluding Seongnam Urban Development Corporation from the project and allowing private developer Jung Ba-ul to proceed with the project alone, because of a request from broker Kim In-seop, a former head of his campaign headquarters. Since the statements of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, its employees, and Seongnam city officials all contradicted Lee's claims, the prosecution believes Lee used the nonexistent coercion or pressure from the Ministry as an excuse.
In September last year, Han Dong-hoon, then Minister of Justice, explained the reason for requesting the arrest consent bill for Lee at the National Assembly, saying, "Lee claims that the unprecedented four-level land use change was due to 'coercion by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport,' but the Ministry's reply in December 2014 stating that 'land use changes are at the discretion of local governments,' the testimony of the Seongnam city official who directly reported the reply to Mayor Lee, and testimonies from Seongnam city, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Food Research Institute officials stating that 'there was no coercion or such atmosphere from the Ministry' all contradict Lee's claims and align with the above evidence."
The Criminal Division 34 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Han Sung-jin, which handled the first trial, on the 15th, recognized Lee's statements denying playing golf with former Director Kim and his statements about Baekhyeon-dong as false facts and sentenced Lee to one year in prison with a two-year suspension.
The court judged as guilty the part of Lee's statements denying knowing former Director Kim, including, "I, and four people from the People Power Party, took photos and released them as if I played golf, but upon checking, they took part of our group photo and showed it like this. It was manipulated," indicating that he did not play golf with Kim during the overseas trip.
On the other hand, the court acquitted Lee of the parts stating that he did not know Kim Moon-gi during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam and that he came to know Kim only after becoming governor and being indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act.
An acquittal with reasons means that the court finds the defendant not guilty of the charges that are legally considered part of a single crime with the guilty charges, and while the judgment states this reasoning, it does not separately pronounce a not guilty verdict.
Immediately after the first trial verdict, Lee stated, "It is a conclusion that is difficult to accept," and expressed his intention to appeal immediately.
In the case of violating the Public Official Election Act, if a fine of 1 million won or more is confirmed, the right to run for office is restricted for five years, and if a prison sentence or higher is confirmed, the restriction lasts for ten years. If Lee's suspended prison sentence from the first trial is confirmed by the Supreme Court, not only will 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.
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