[Breaking] Court "Some Perjury Charges in Kim Jinseong's Indictment Partially Accepted"

At 2:10 p.m. on the 25th, during the first trial sentencing hearing of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 33 (Presiding Judge Kim Dong-hyun), the court stated, "Regarding the perjury charges against Kim Jin-sung, the testimony about the atmosphere within Kim Byung-ryang's election campaign and the testimony related to the withdrawal of Choi Cheol-ho's accusation are judged to lack proof of crime, but the remaining testimonies are judged to have proof of crime."

Lee was indicted in October last year on charges of instructing perjury, accused of calling Kim Jin-sung, a former secretary to the late Kim Byung-ryang, former mayor of Seongnam, during his trial for violating the Public Official Election Act (false statement) in December 2018, and asking him to appear as a witness and give false testimony favorable to Lee.

At that time, Lee was on trial for allegedly making false statements during a TV debate as a candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor in May 2018, claiming that he was "falsely accused" in the 'Impersonation of Prosecutor Incident.'

The impersonation incident involved Lee, who was a lawyer in May 2002, conspiring with Choi Cheol-ho, a PD of KBS's 'Chujeok 60 Bun' program. Choi impersonated a prosecutor while calling Kim Byung-ryang, then mayor of Seongnam, from Lee's office, with Lee providing the name of the prosecutor to impersonate and the questions to ask.

Lee was indicted for impersonating a public official in this case and was fined 1.5 million won by the Supreme Court in 2004.

However, on May 29, 2018, during the '2018 Local Election Gyeonggi Province Governor Candidate KBS Invitational Debate,' Lee responded to a question from a competing candidate about the impersonation by saying, "I did not do it; the PD impersonated, and I was just being interviewed nearby, so I was falsely accused of helping," and "I never made a call impersonating a prosecutor. I was falsely accused of helping just because I was being interviewed nearby while the PD did it."

The prosecution judged that Lee's statement claiming he was falsely accused in a case where the Supreme Court had already confirmed his guilt was a false statement that could influence the election. On December 11, 2018, Lee was indicted without detention for false statement under the Public Official Election Act. The prosecution's view was that Lee conspired to impersonate a prosecutor by providing the name and questions to Choi and, despite being criminally punished for it, falsely claimed he was not involved in the impersonation incident.

The prosecution determined that Kim Jin-sung, who was a secretary to former Mayor Kim and, along with Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, had agreed to receive money in exchange for facilitating permits related to the Baekhyeon-dong development project, was asked multiple times by Lee via phone calls around December 2018 to testify that "there was an agreement or atmosphere to withdraw the accusation against Choi to frame Lee as the main culprit between Kim Byung-ryang and KBS during the impersonation incident." Kim In-seop, known as a close aide to Lee, acted as a lobbyist for the Baekhyeon-dong project.

According to the prosecution, Kim Jin-sung, who received Lee's request, appeared as a witness on February 14, 2019, at 2 p.m. at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch for Lee's trial on the Public Official Election Act violation charges. After taking the oath, although he did not know or remember whether such an agreement or atmosphere existed, he testified that "there was an agreement or atmosphere to withdraw the accusation against Choi to frame Lee as the main culprit between Kim Byung-ryang and KBS during the impersonation incident." Lee was acquitted in that trial, maintaining his position as governor of Gyeonggi Province and enabling him to run for president.

The prosecution indicted Kim Jin-sung for perjury and Lee for instructing perjury in October last year.

Kim admitted in court and to the prosecution that he committed perjury at Lee's request. Additionally, a voice recording of their phone conversations was submitted as evidence.

The recordings include Lee telling Kim, "Please tell it as it is," and "I'm not asking you to reconstruct the incident." Lee has argued that these statements show he did not ask Kim to give false testimony. However, legal experts suggest that Lee, being a legal professional, might have made these remarks consciously, aware that the call could be recorded.

Among the calls, Lee's request for Kim to testify in a certain way when Kim said he did not remember clearly is seen as clear instruction to commit perjury. Furthermore, evidence shows Lee sent Kim a brief of arguments before the testimony to practice desired answers to expected questions, making it difficult for Lee to escape the charges.

In September last year, Judge Yoo Chang-hoon, who dismissed Lee's arrest warrant, stated that the perjury instruction charges appeared to be substantiated. Also, even before the sentencing for the Public Official Election Act violation, Lee posted on his Facebook daily, claiming innocence and calling the case a "failed instruction," indicating that Lee himself considered the possibility of guilt in this case to be high.

Unlike the Public Official Election Act violation charges, if Lee is found guilty of instructing perjury and fined, he can retain his parliamentary seat. However, if Lee receives a prison sentence for instructing perjury (which does not have a prison term with labor), he will lose his seat and be barred from running for office until the sentence expires. According to the Act on the Execution and Exemption of Sentences, prison sentences exceeding three years become effective 10 years after completion or exemption, and those under three years become effective after five years. If a prison sentence with probation is confirmed, Lee will lose his seat but the right to run for office will be restored after the probation period ends.

If a prison sentence with probation is confirmed, Lee will lose his National Assembly seat, but the Central Election Commission interprets that his right to run for office will be restored after the probation period expires.

At around 11:48 p.m. on the same day, Lee arrived at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul. After greeting Democratic Party lawmakers waiting there, he entered the court building without responding to reporters' questions such as "How do you expect the verdict?" and "What is your position on the intent of perjury?"