Two Former Lee Jae-myung Camp Members Arrested for Perjury Coaching in Kim Yong Trial

Court Issues Arrest Warrant Citing "Risk of Evidence Destruction"

On the 15th, former presidential campaign officials of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of coercing 'false testimony' from a key witness in the trial of former Democratic Research Institute Deputy Director Kim Yong, who faces charges of illegal political funds, were arrested.

'Kim Yong Perjury Coaching Trial' Two Former Lee Jae-myung Presidential Campaign Officials Undergoing Warrant Hearing.
[Image Source=Yonhap News]

Lee Min-soo, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, conducted a pre-arrest detention hearing for Park (45) and Seo (44), former situation room chiefs of Lee's presidential campaign committee, and issued arrest warrants, citing "concerns over evidence tampering," as requested by the prosecution.

Park and Seo are accused of instructing Lee (former head of the Gyeonggi Market Promotion Agency) to provide a 'false alibi' testimony during the trial last April concerning Kim's violations of the Political Funds Act (perjury inducement). Park was also charged with submitting fabricated evidence to the court in May of the same year, along with Lee and Kim's defense attorneys, related to a schedule document allegedly fabricated by Lee concerning the day Kim received illicit funds (use of forged evidence).

At that time, the prosecution identified that among the illegal funds Kim received from Nam Wook, a developer involved in the Daejang-dong project, 10 million won was received on May 3, 2021, at the office of Youwon Holdings in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.

The prosecution believes that Park and others fabricated a false alibi to make it appear that Kim was elsewhere on that date. In fact, during the trial held in May last year, Lee testified that on the specified day, Kim and Shin (head of the Gyeonggi Energy Center) had a business meeting at the Gyeonggi Market Promotion Agency office. He also submitted as evidence a screenshot from a mobile phone scheduling app showing 'Kim Yong, Shin○○' entered on May 3.

However, the prosecution's investigation revealed that the meeting actually took place between Lee and Shin, and the mobile phone screenshot was fabricated afterward. When the prosecution's investigation intensified, Lee admitted to most of the charges of perjury and use of forged evidence. The prosecution concluded that Park conspired with Lee and Kim's defense attorneys to manipulate the mobile phone schedule and applied the charge of use of forged evidence to Park as well.

After arresting Park and Seo, the prosecution is expected to secure their custody for up to 20 days to expand the investigation into whether there was additional organized conspiracy during the perjury process. The prosecution summoned Lee for questioning after the first trial verdict of Kim was delivered and conducted searches in December last year on Seong Jun-ho, deputy spokesperson of the Democratic Party considered a close aide of Lee, and Lee Woo-jong, former president of the Gyeonggi Art Center.

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