On the 29th, the prosecution appealed against the first trial court's decision that acquitted Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, of the charge of suborning perjury.
The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-hak) stated, "The first trial court disassembled interconnected testimonies individually and judged them separately, leading to a conclusion that does not align with facts and law."
They added, "This is akin to looking at only individual pieces of a mosaic that forms the whole picture and refusing to recognize the entire image."
Accordingly, a fierce legal battle is expected in the second trial at the Seoul High Court over whether Lee knew that Kim Jin-sung, the late Kim Byung-ryang's former secretary, would commit perjury.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is entering the National Assembly after the first trial sentencing hearing on charges of perjury instruction on the 25th. Lee was acquitted in the first trial of the perjury instruction charges. Photo by Kim Hyun-min
On the 25th, the Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Dong-hyun) ruled that although Kim did commit perjury as requested by Lee, Lee did not know that Kim would commit perjury, and therefore, Lee could not be considered to have had intent. Lee was acquitted of the charge of suborning perjury. Kim was fined 5 million won as some of his perjury charges were acknowledged.
Lee was indicted in October last year on charges of suborning perjury against Kim Jin-sung, who was the secretary to the late Kim Byung-ryang, former mayor of Seongnam, during the trial for violating the Public Official Election Act related to impersonating a prosecutor in February 2019, when Lee was governor of Gyeonggi Province.
Previously, Lee was prosecuted for false statement charges after he said in a 2018 Gyeonggi Province governor candidate TV debate, "I was falsely accused of impersonating a prosecutor by phone, but I never did."
Kim testified in February 2019 at the trial that "During the investigation of the prosecutor impersonation case, there was an agreement between the late Mayor Kim Byung-ryang and KBS to frame Governor Lee Jae-myung as the main culprit."
The prosecution's view is that Kim made this false testimony in court at Lee's request.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
