At the first appeal trial of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on charges of suborning perjury, the prosecution and defense clashed over the first trial's acquittal verdict. While the prosecution requested the court to expedite the trial, Lee's side argued that it was physically difficult.
On the 11th, the Criminal Division 3 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Lee Seung-han, Park Jung-woon, Yoo Je-min) held the first preparatory hearing for Lee's appeal trial on the perjury subornation charges at 2 p.m. The preparatory hearing is a procedure to organize the issues and evidence of the case before the full trial begins. Since the defendant is not obligated to attend, Lee did not appear that day.
The prosecution stated that the first trial court misjudged by acquitting Lee despite all testimonies being false, mistakenly considering some parts to be true. They also said the court omitted many factual matters that could be considered evidence of guilt. On the other hand, Lee's side rebutted, saying, "It is unclear which parts differ and constitute perjury when lumped together," and "The indictment should specifically identify which individual testimonies differ and why they constitute perjury, but this part is flawed." They also argued, "Kim, who is still under investigation, is like a moth caught in a spider's web," suggesting "there is a possibility that Kim decided to commit perjury due to various other reasons."
The prosecution also requested the court to proceed with the trial as quickly as possible. The prosecution said, "We are fully prepared to complete issue organization and witness examination in one day in March," and "We will cooperate to conclude the trial swiftly." In contrast, Lee's side countered, "It is physically impossible to finish in one day." Instead, Lee's side proposed that since both sides interpret the phone recordings between Lee and Kim differently, the recordings should be listened to together in court, and the witness examination should be postponed to the next hearing.
That day, the court pointed out that Lee's perception when he was a lawyer would be the starting point of this case. The court said, "Lee's side claims there is a reasonable reason to believe there was an agreement in 2002 to frame Lee as the main culprit for 'impersonating a prosecutor,' and the prosecution claims this is an objective falsehood that Lee was aware of." The court added, "The basic facts about what Lee's perception was in 2002 are divided, and that part should be the starting point of this case."
Previously, Lee was indicted in October 2023 on charges of requesting false testimony from Kim, who was the secretary to the late Kim Byung-ryang, former mayor of Seongnam, during Lee's trial for violating the Public Official Election Act around February 2019. The first trial court acknowledged that Kim committed perjury at Lee's request but acquitted Lee, ruling that Lee could not be considered to have intent because he did not know Kim would commit perjury.
The court scheduled the second preparatory hearing for 2 p.m. on the 1st of next month. The court stated, "We will conclude the preparatory hearing that day and set the trial date."
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