Seized Lawyer Kim Yong's Defense Counsel: "No Demand for Perjury... Violation of Right to Defense"

Attorney whose home was raided on suspicion of coaching false testimony in the trial of former Deputy Director Kim Yong of the Democratic Research Institute (56) claimed, "I never requested perjury."

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

On the 31st, Attorney Lee stated this during the trial of former Deputy Director Kim at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Jo Byung-gu).

He said, "The prosecution conducted a search and seizure, accusing me of coaching perjury because I contacted the witness to confirm the testimony before the trial," adding, "I never told the witness to lie," and "The prosecution claims that the attorney used forged evidence, but I only submitted photos of the witness's mobile phone schedule, which had been displayed on the visualizer at the court's request."

Attorney Lee added, "The prosecution investigators searched my entire house and took case-related files from my mobile phone and computer," and "They were trying to secure files related to trial preparation and written statements."

On the other hand, the prosecution argued, "We requested the witness to submit the mobile phone, but during the court's ex officio issuance of a warrant, the phone's whereabouts became unknown," and "We also confirmed that related materials were continuously and sequentially destroyed." "Evidence is being destroyed and facts are being manipulated day by day, so we could not avoid launching an investigation into the perjury case."

The court expressed regret, saying, "It is very unfortunate that the attorney is now directly under investigation regarding testimony that is still ongoing in the trial," and added, "In this regard, there is no need to recall the witness to further impeach credibility, so we will not adopt the witness." The trial is expected to conclude as early as the end of next month. The court stated, "Unless there are special circumstances, we will verify documentary evidence and hear arguments on the 21st of next month, then proceed with the conclusion process," and "If additional time is needed, the trial may conclude on October 5."

Earlier, on the 24th, the prosecution raided Attorney Lee's residence on suspicion of coaching false testimony and using forged evidence related to former Deputy Director Kim's trial. The prosecution suspects that Attorney Lee coached former Director Lee of the Gyeonggi-do Market Promotion Agency (64) to testify that Kim was not present at the scene at the time of illegal presidential election fund receipt (around noon on May 3, 2021) during the trial on May 4. In the trial held a week later, Attorney Lee is also accused of submitting a forged old mobile phone calendar photo to the court to support Lee's testimony that he met Kim at the time the prosecution claims the funds were received.

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