'Bribery Charges' Moon's Team Claims 'Truck Indictment' by Prosecution... Jury Trial Decision Expected in March

Court to Decide in March After Evidence Selection

On January 13, the legal team representing former President Moon Jae-in, who is facing bribery charges, argued in court that "the prosecution included irrelevant facts in the indictment and submitted a large amount of unrelated evidence, amounting to what is called a 'truck indictment.'" The decision on whether the trial will proceed as a jury trial will be made around March.

Former President Moon Jae-in is speaking with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik at the National Assembly on the 25th. On this day, former President Moon visited the National Assembly for the first time since leaving office to attend the 7th anniversary ceremony of the Panmunjom Declaration. April 25, 2025 Photo by National Assembly Press Photographers Group

The 21st Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hyunbok) held the fourth pretrial hearing for the bribery case involving former President Moon and former lawmaker Lee Sangjik that morning. As defendants are not required to attend pretrial hearings, former President Moon did not appear in court.

The court plans to collect final opinions from both the prosecution and the defense regarding the selection of evidence by the end of February, and then decide on the jury trial, scheduling the trial date for early to mid-March. The court is currently conducting the evidence selection procedure, which involves reviewing whether the requests for evidence selection have been properly made.

Previously, at the first pretrial hearing in June of last year, former President Moon’s legal team requested a jury trial. The prosecution responded that it would conditionally accept this request if the defense agreed to a limited number of witnesses, since the defense had already agreed to a significant portion of the testimonial evidence from the investigation stage.

On this day, former President Moon’s legal team argued that most of the prosecution’s requests should be dismissed. They stated, "The prosecution included several times more irrelevant facts in the indictment than the actual charges and indiscriminately submitted unrelated evidence, resulting in a 'truck indictment,'" and added, "The prosecution is planting prejudice in the minds of the judges and forcing the investigation of evidence unrelated to the charges, thereby subjecting the defendant to institutional torture."

Former lawmaker Lee, who appeared in court, said, "I was neither the CEO nor the chairman, so I do not understand why my salary from Thai Eastar Jet is being prosecuted as embezzlement in the course of my duties. The indictment itself is groundless, and I request that it be dismissed during the evidence selection process."

In April of last year, the prosecution indicted former President Moon without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Former lawmaker Lee, founder of Eastar Jet, was also brought to trial on charges of bribery and breach of duty. The prosecution considered the salary and housing expenses totaling more than 200 million won, received by Mr. Seo, former President Moon’s son-in-law, from the airline Thai Eastar Jet, to constitute bribes to former President Moon. Thai Eastar Jet is the overseas corporate entity of Eastar Jet, which is effectively owned by former lawmaker Lee.