[Breaking News] Court Acquits Lee Jae-myung of Perjury Instruction Charge in First Trial... Kim Jin-sung Fined 5 Million Won

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing on charges of suborning perjury held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 25th. Photo by Joint Press Corps

On the 25th, at the first trial sentencing hearing of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, held before the Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Dong-hyun), the court acquitted Lee. Kim Jin-sung, a former secretary to the late Kim Byung-ryang, former mayor of Seongnam, who was indicted for perjury as a witness in Lee's trial, was found guilty of some charges and fined 5 million won.

Lee was indicted in October last year on charges of instructing perjury, accused of calling Kim during his trial for violating the Public Official Election Act (false statement) in December 2018 and asking him to testify falsely in Lee's favor as a witness.

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 of prosecutor incident involved Lee, who was a lawyer at the time, allegedly conspiring with PD Choi Cheol-ho of KBS's "Chujeok 60 Minutes" on May 10, 2002. PD Choi called then-Mayor Kim Byung-ryang of Seongnam City, impersonating a prosecutor, while Lee reportedly provided the name of the prosecutor to impersonate and the questions to ask, leading to Lee being prosecuted.

Lee was convicted of 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 stated in response to a rival candidate's question about the impersonation of prosecutor incident, "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 already confirmed guilty by the Supreme Court was a false statement that could influence the election. On December 11, 2018, Lee was indicted without detention on charges of false statement under the Public Official Election Act. The prosecution believed Lee conspired to impersonate a prosecutor by providing PD Choi with the prosecutor's name and questions and, despite being criminally punished for it, falsely claimed he was not involved in the impersonation incident.

The prosecution determined that Kim, who was the secretary to former Mayor Kim and, along with Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, 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 PD 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 Baekhyeon-dong.

Based on Lee's request, Kim appeared as a witness on February 14, 2019, at 2 p.m. at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch for Lee's trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act. After taking the witness oath, Kim testified that there was such an agreement or atmosphere to withdraw the accusation against PD Choi to frame Lee as the main culprit during the impersonation incident, although he did not know or remember if such an agreement or atmosphere actually existed. This was the criminal fact stated in Kim's indictment. Lee was acquitted in that trial where Kim testified, allowing him to maintain his position as governor of Gyeonggi Province and run for president.

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

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

The recording includes Lee telling Kim, "Please tell it as it is," and "I'm not asking you to reconstruct the incident." Lee has argued that this shows he did not ask Kim to give false testimony. However, legal experts suggest that Lee, being a legal professional, might have consciously made such statements considering the possibility of the call being recorded.

Among the call contents, Lee's request for Kim to testify in a certain way when Kim said he did not remember well is clearly an act of instructing perjury. Furthermore, evidence showing that Lee sent Kim a brief of arguments before the testimony to practice desired answers to expected questions suggests it will be difficult for Lee to escape the charges.

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

Unlike the Public Official Election Act violation charges, if Lee is found guilty of instructing perjury and sentenced to a fine, he can retain his parliamentary seat. However, if Lee is sentenced to imprisonment for instructing perjury (which does not carry a prison sentence with labor), he will lose his seat and be disqualified from running for office until the sentence expires. According to the Act on the Execution and Exemption of Sentences, imprisonment exceeding three years becomes effective 10 years after execution or exemption, and imprisonment of three years or less becomes effective after five years.

At around 11:48 p.m. that day, Lee arrived at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul. After greeting Democratic Party lawmakers who were waiting, he entered the courthouse without answering any questions from reporters such as "How do you expect the verdict?" or "What is your position on the intent of perjury?"