Daejang-dong Hearings Set for May 13 and 27,
Perjury Coaching Trial Scheduled for May 20
The camp of Lee Jae Myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, has requested the court to postpone the trials for the Daejang-dong case and the perjury coaching case until after the presidential election on June 3. Both trials had hearings scheduled for this month, ahead of the election.
On April 30, 2025, Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate, attended the launch ceremony of the Democratic Party of Korea's 21st presidential election 'Real Korea' Central Election Countermeasures Committee held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun Min
On May 7, Lee's attorneys submitted requests to reschedule the hearing dates for the appeals trials of the Daejang-dong, Wirye, Baekhyeon-dong, and Seongnam FC cases, as well as the perjury coaching case. The requests were filed with the 33rd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jin Gwan) and the 3rd Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Seung Han), which are handling the respective cases.
The Seoul Central District Court, which is overseeing the Daejang-dong case, had set hearing dates for May 13 and May 27. Previously, during the trial process, Lee's side requested that these dates be excluded due to the election campaign period. However, on April 8, the court stated, "If specific schedules are determined, submit the relevant documents and obtain approval," and tentatively set the dates as hearings.
For the perjury coaching case on appeal, two pretrial hearings have been held, and the first trial is scheduled for May 20. At the second pretrial hearing on April 1, the court also announced that the final hearing would be held on June 3, wrapping up the trial. At that time, the presidential election date had not yet been confirmed.
Now that the presidential election date and campaign period have been finalized, and since Lee was officially nominated as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate on April 27, attention is focused on whether the courts will accept the formal requests from Lee's camp to postpone the hearings.
On the same day, the 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jae Kwon), which is handling the retrial of the election law violation case, postponed the first hearing originally scheduled for May 15 to June 18, after the presidential election. The court stated, "To ensure equal opportunities for election campaigning for the defendant, who is a presidential candidate, and to eliminate any controversy over the fairness of the trial, we are rescheduling the hearing to after the presidential election."
Previously, Lee's camp requested the postponement citing Article 116 of the Constitution, which guarantees 'equal opportunities for candidates in election campaigns,' and Article 11 of the Public Official Election Act, which prohibits the arrest or detention of presidential candidates during the campaign period. The court announced the change of hearing dates immediately after the request was submitted.
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