Park Gyuntaek "No knowledge of Plan B prepared for Lee Jae-myung's conviction... Confident of acquittal in the second trial"

"The Support of the Majority of the Public and Party Members for Lee Is Absolute"

Park Gyuntaek, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated regarding the second trial verdict on Lee Jae-myung's charge of false statement under the Public Official Election Act, "I naturally expect a not guilty verdict."

On the 26th, on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' Park said, "(If an early presidential election becomes a reality and Lee receives the same sentence as the first trial in the second trial) I have never heard of a Plan B, and I am confident there will be none in the future," adding, "This is probably because the support from the majority of the public and party members is absolute, there is confidence in the not guilty verdict, and there is a clear perception that Lee is a judicial victim."

At 2 p.m. that day, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 6-2 will deliver the second trial verdict on Lee's charge of false statement under the Public Official Election Act. Previously, the first trial court sentenced Lee to one year in prison with a two-year probation. If the same sentence is upheld in the second trial and confirmed by the Supreme Court, Lee will lose his parliamentary seat.

Park emphasized, "The first trial court made a judgment full of prejudice," and said, "From the standpoint of believing that most judges are reasonable, a not guilty verdict is inevitable."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the first trial hearing of the Wirye, Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong, and Seongnam FC cases held at the Seoul Central District Court on the 25th. 2025.3.25 Photo by Jo Yong-jun

He then stated, "There are two main issues in this case. One is that Lee allegedly lied about playing golf with the late Kim Moon-gi, Head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, and the other is that he lied about changing the land use of Daejang-dong under coercion from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT)." He claimed, "Lee never made either of these statements."

When the host asked, "Wasn't Lee's statement about MOLIT's coercion broadcast live during the National Assembly audit?" Park responded, "This is a devil's editing in the indictment," and said, "Lee did not make those two statements, so trying to distinguish whether they are true or false is logically flawed."

Park explained, "When Lee talked about the five public institutions in Seongnam City, he said, 'MOLIT threatened us, but we resisted and did not comply,' and when there was a special mention about the Baekhyeon-dong site, he said, 'Due to special demands from the Park Geun-hye administration, we had no choice but to compromise by attaching conditions and changing only half of the land use.'"

He added, "However, this was edited devilishly by leaving only the head and tail and removing the body, making it seem like 'there was coercion' and 'the land use of Baekhyeon-dong was changed,' while the middle content of 'accepting only part under specific conditions' was completely omitted." He further said, "Also, statements made during the National Assembly audit are protected by testimonial immunity under the Testimonial Evidence Act, so they do not suffer any disadvantage other than being subject to cross-examination. There is immunity."

Furthermore, he said, "Regarding the fact of MOLIT's coercion, it is natural to feel psychological pressure when requests are made over 20 times in official documents and the president makes special demands," adding, "Expressing the pressure as coercion may be an exaggeration or a slip of expression, but it is not a lie."