Democrats: "Lee Jae-myung Will Actively Participate in Election Law Appeal... Will Comply with Judiciary Procedures"

Cho Seungrae: "Leader Lee Did Not Delay the Trial"

The Democratic Party of Korea stated on the 24th, "Party leader Lee Jae-myung will actively participate in the second trial procedure of the Public Official Election Act case."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the first appeal trial of the public official election law violation case held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

Chief spokesperson Cho Seung-rae said in a briefing at the National Assembly communication office that morning, "Leader Lee will comply with the judicial procedures and actively participate according to the schedule set by the court."

Spokesperson Cho pointed out, "Leader Lee did not cause any delay in the trial. The delay during the first trial was actually caused by the prosecution," adding, "The prosecution wasted as much as 1 year and 9 months in the first trial without specifying the charges and changed the indictment near the end of the trial."

He continued, "The prosecution requested a large number of 43 witnesses in the first trial, wasting a lot of time on witness examination. Leader Lee's side only requested 4 witnesses, which is just a quarter of the prosecution's," and said, "Due to the prosecution's stalling, the first trial verdict was delayed, but from yesterday, the first hearing of the appeal trial is scheduled to proceed swiftly according to the court's will."

He added, "Despite these facts, the People Power Party consistently lies that Leader Lee is delaying the trial and is pressuring the court," criticizing, "This is a clear interference with judicial authority. It must stop."

After the briefing, spokesperson Cho told reporters, "We are not considering or reviewing the relationship with other political schedules," and said, "We are focusing on faithfully participating in the given second trial procedure."

When asked whether Leader Lee is considering filing a constitutional review request, he replied, "I understand that Leader Lee is reviewing this with his lawyers."

Meanwhile, the sentencing trial for Leader Lee's violation of the Public Official Election Act is scheduled to be held as early as the 26th of next month. Considering that sentencing usually occurs within 1 to 2 months after the sentencing trial, political and legal circles predict that the second trial verdict for Leader Lee will come out as early as March.