Daejangdong Court Decides to Impose Fine on Jeong Jin-sang for Violating Bail Conditions

"Contact with Witness, Strict Measures Needed"

The trial court handling the Daejang-dong case involving Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, decided to impose a fine on Jeong Jin-sang, former director of political coordination at the party leader’s office, for violating bail conditions. This was due to Jeong’s lawyer contacting a witness separately outside the courtroom.

The Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Dong-hyun) held a hearing on the "Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong, Wirye New Town development corruption and Seongnam FC case" on the 14th, stating, "Regarding the bail conditions, there have been multiple issues so far, and it seems appropriate to impose a fine as a form of caution or warning," adding, "We are considering imposing a fine of about 3 million won."

Jeong’s lawyer argued, "When unexpectedly contacting the witness, is there an obligation to inform the court about such an issue?" and "I did not even tell Jeong about contacting the witness."

The prosecution said, "It is not credible that Jeong was not involved at all," and added, "To clearly prevent such incidents in the future, strict measures, including fines, should be imposed."

Jeong Jin-sang, former Chief of Political Coordination Office at the Democratic Party of Korea's Representative Office, is attending the second trial sentencing hearing of the Moon Jae-in administration Blue House's 'Ulsan Mayor Election Interference Allegation' case held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 4th. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

In response, the court said, "Objectively speaking, the lawyers likely discussed important case details with the defendant and internally coordinated what to include in the witness examination," and "We believe Jeong was somewhat aware of and involved in these discussions."

Earlier, Jeong’s lawyer mentioned during the cross-examination of Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of the Development Headquarters at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, on the 21st of last month, about a bar employee witness A who appeared in court as a witness in September last year.

Witness A testified in court last year that he received 15 million won from Yoo. Jeong’s lawyer asked Yoo last month, "Did you tell A, 'I will earn 10 billion won and give it to you to keep'?" and "Did you say, 'If Representative Lee finds out, it will be a big problem. You will be discarded after use'?"

When asked about the circumstances under which this information, which did not come up during A’s testimony, was mentioned, Jeong’s side explained that after A’s witness appearance, A called them separately and said he was too scared in court to say everything, and that Yoo had made those statements.

The prosecution opposed, saying, "They met and spoke with a witness after the witness examination for some reason, but did not disclose this for months, and then suddenly made a one-sided claim saying 'this happened,'" calling it "a serious violation of the proper trial procedure."

Jeong, the former director, was also warned by the court last June for violating the bail condition of "returning home before midnight."

Jeong, a close aide of Lee, was arrested and indicted in December 2022 on charges of providing special favors to private developers in the Daejang-dong development and promising to share 24.5% of the common stock held by private developers (after deducting common expenses, amounting to 42.8 billion won) as a reward (bribery after fraudulent acts). He was released in April the following year and has been standing trial without detention.