Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrant for Witness Who Provided Alibi for Kim Yong (Comprehensive)

The prosecution investigating perjury allegations related to the trial of former Deputy Director Kim Yong of the Democratic Research Institute moved on the 29th to secure the custody of the witness suspected of committing perjury.

The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Baeksin) filed an arrest warrant on the same day against Lee, former Director of the Gyeonggi-do Market Promotion Agency (63), on charges of perjury, evidence forgery, and use of forged evidence.

Kim Yong, former Vice President of the Democratic Research Institute [Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the prosecution, Lee is suspected of giving false testimony at the Seoul Central District Court trial of former Deputy Director Kim on May 4, stating that "on May 3, 2021, from 3:00 PM to 4:50 PM, I met former Deputy Director Kim in the director's office of the Gyeonggi-do Market Promotion Agency in Suwon together with Shin, director of the Gyeonggi-do Energy Center." To support this testimony, Lee allegedly conspired with Kim's defense attorney and Park, former head of the situation room of Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign, to print a forged photo of a mobile phone schedule on May 11 and submit it as evidence to the court. Lee testified that the mobile phone schedule for that date included the names of former Deputy Director Kim and Shin.

However, the prosecution's investigation revealed that Lee arbitrarily entered "Kim Yong" into the mobile phone schedule for that date two days before appearing as a witness. Lee presented a photo of the schedule as evidence to the court but refused to submit the actual mobile phone when requested. Subsequently, the prosecution obtained a search warrant from the court and executed it, but the mobile phone was not found. Lee claimed, "The mobile phone suddenly disappeared."

Lee's testimony attracted attention as it provided an alibi that could exonerate former Deputy Director Kim from charges of receiving illegal presidential campaign funds. The prosecution had specified that on May 3, 2021, former Deputy Director Kim received 10 million won in illegal presidential campaign funds from Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, at the Yuwon Holdings office in Pangyo-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. If Lee's testimony is true, it suggests that the prosecution's specification was incorrect.

In recent prosecution investigations, Lee largely admitted to committing perjury at the request of former Deputy Director Kim's side but reportedly did not mention specific details of the conspiracy.

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