2024-04-12 11:51:30
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, is attending the first trial of the ‘election law violation case’ held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 12th. / Yonhap News
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, appeared as a defendant in the first trial of the ‘election law violation case’ on the 12th. It has been two days since the April 10 general elections.
The 34th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Han Seong-jin) held Representative Lee’s election law trial on this day. Representative Lee was indicted in September 2022 on charges of lying during the last presidential election, saying that he knew the late Kim Moon-ki, former director of Seongnam Metropolitan Open Construction, even though he was mayor of Seongnam, and that he had raised the use of the Baekhyeon-dong development site under threats from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
At the trial on this day, two witnesses related to the ‘Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport threats’ statement attended. First, Baekhyeon-dong private businessman Jeong Paul testified that he did not know what CEO Lee said. When the prosecutor asked, “Have you ever heard from the Seongnam City official (who was in charge of the Baekhyeon-dong project) at the time that, ‘If the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport did not change the use of Baekhyeon-dong, he threatened to take issue with dereliction of duty,’” Mr. Jeong answered, “Nothing.” .
When asked whether he had heard anything from a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official regarding pressure to change the use, Mr. Jeong said, “I don’t remember.” At the time, Mr. Jeong was in contact with officials from Seongnam City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to obtain permission to change the use of the Baekhyeon-dong site.
Mr. Park, a retired civil servant from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, also testified to a similar effect. The prosecutor asked, “During your time at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, did you ever order or pressure Seongnam City to change its use?” Mr. Park answered, “No.” The prosecutor also showed the ‘cooperation letter’ sent by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Seongnam City at the time and asked, “Do you mean to force (change of use)?” to which Mr. Park said, “That is not the case.” He continued, “As the authority to change the use lies with the local government, the purpose was to ask them to make decisions within their authority and cooperate.”
Accordingly, CEO Lee personally appeared in the newspaper. Representative Lee asked, “The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport sent three official letters to Seongnam City asking for active cooperation. Isn’t this asking them to change the use?” But Mr. Park said, “No.” He answered, “It is the local government’s authority to decide what use the site (Baekhyeon-dong) will be used for.”
When Mr. Park continued to give answers that were different from the intent of the question, Representative Lee said, “That’s not what I’m asking. “Don’t keep acting like that,” he said. He then asked once more, “When the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport asked for cooperation, wasn’t it a request to change the use?” However, Mr. Park responded, “That is the opinion of the person who accepted it,” and “The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport did not force it that way.”
Meanwhile, Representative Lee was silent when appearing in court this morning. Reporters asked, “What do you think regarding the criticism that ‘judicial risk’ still exists even though you were elected to the National Assembly?” and “How do you view the possibility of losing your National Assembly seat during your term?”, but he did not answer. If Representative Lee is sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more for violating the election law, he will lose his seat as a member of the National Assembly and become ineligible to run for president.
Kim In-seop, former CEO of Korea Housing Technology, who was indicted on charges of being a ‘mediation agent’, is attending the sentencing hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu on February 13. Mr. Kim was sentenced to five years in prison in the first trial and taken into court custody./Reporter Park Sang-hoon
On the same day, in the first appellate trial of the ‘Baekhyeon-dong broker’ Kim In-seop’s case held at the Seoul High Court, the court adopted Jeong Jin-sang (former head of the political affairs coordination office of the Democratic Party’s representative office), a close associate of Representative Lee, as a witness. Mr. Kim’s side also applied for Representative Lee as a witness, but the court dismissed it, saying, “He was never applied as a witness in the first trial and did not meet the requirements.” Mr. Kim was sentenced to five years in prison in the first trial last February for requesting permission from Jeong Jin-sang upon request from Jeong Paul in the ‘Baekhyeon-dong preferential development case’.
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