Lee Absent Again as Witness in Daejangdong Trial... Court Warns "Will Consider Fine if Absent Again"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was summoned as a witness in the trial of private developers involved in the Daejang-dong development project but did not appear. The court stated that if he fails to appear again on the 24th, it will consider imposing a fine.

Yonhap News

On the 21st, Lee did not attend the trial session for former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Director Yoo Dong-gyu and other private developers involved in the Daejang-dong case, held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Chief Judge Jo Hyung-woo), causing the trial to end after just six minutes. They were indicted on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery).

The court had accepted the prosecution’s request to summon Lee as a witness and planned to question him that day, but Lee’s side submitted a witness non-appearance notice on the 14th, citing another trial as the reason.

The court said, "No fine will be imposed on the witness today, but if he does not appear again next Monday, we will consider imposing a fine," adding, "The reasons for non-appearance were broadly stated without specific scheduling conflicts." The court scheduled a total of six witness questioning sessions for Lee, including cross-examination. Summons for the sessions on the 7th and 17th of next month have already been issued.

Meanwhile, the private developers involved in the Daejang-dong case were brought to trial on charges of causing 489.5 billion won in damages to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation during the Daejang-dong development project when Lee was mayor of Seongnam. Separately, Lee is also on trial with former Chief Political Coordinator Jeong Jin-sang at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 33 (Chief Judge Lee Jin-gwan) on charges related to causing damages to the corporation.