'Late Kim Mungi and Baek Hyeondong False Statements' Lee Jae-myung's Side Denies Charges in First Trial

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is putting on his glasses after finishing his speech at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 17th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was indicted for making false statements during the presidential election process, denied the charges at the first trial.

On the morning of the 18th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Kang Gyutae) held the first preparatory hearing for Lee, who was indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

At the preparatory hearing, the defendant's position on the charges is confirmed, and a plan for evidence investigation is made in preparation for the formal trial. Unlike the trial date, the defendant is not required to attend, so only Lee’s legal representatives were present that day.

The defense attorney stated, "We deny the charges for now. We are reviewing the records," adding, "It takes time to find evidence to counter the records prepared by the prosecution. We can present an evidence plan after reviewing the records, so please consider that when scheduling the next hearing."

The court said, "There are many underlying facts in the charges. It would be appreciated if you could provide opinions on each item as much as possible," and decided to hold the second preparatory hearing on the morning of the 22nd of next month.

Earlier, Lee was indicted on the 8th of last month for making false statements during an interview with a broadcasting company on December 22 last year, when he was the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate. He claimed that Kim Moon-gi, the late Head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation and a key figure in the Daejang-dong development project, was a subordinate employee whom he did not know during his tenure as mayor. Kim, a central figure in the Daejang-dong development scandal, was found dead in the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation office on December 21 last year while under investigation by prosecutors.

Whether Lee knew Kim is considered a crucial clue to identifying the so-called 'upper echelon' in the Daejang-dong case. The prosecution believes that Lee received multiple face-to-face reports from Kim regarding the Daejang-dong development project and other major issues of the corporation while in the Seongnam mayor’s office.

Lee is also charged with making false statements related to the 'Baekhyeon-dong preferential treatment suspicion.' At the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s Gyeonggi Province audit on October 20 last year, he allegedly made false statements regarding the preferential treatment suspicion of the Baekhyeon-dong Korea Food Research Institute site’s land-use change, saying, "The Ministry of Land requested the land-use change, and we had no choice but to comply under the Special Act on the Relocation of Public Institutions," and "Since Seongnam City could not accept earning billions of won through the land-use change, the city planned to secure some profit and attract office facilities, but the Ministry of Land threatened to accuse us of dereliction of duty." However, the prosecution’s view is that Seongnam City never received such a request from the Ministry of Land and that it was the city’s own decision.

If Lee is sentenced to imprisonment or fined more than 1 million won, he will lose his parliamentary seat and be disqualified from running for office for five years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.