Prosecutors: "622 Perjurers Detected Last Year... Restoring Pre-Investigation Authority Reduction Levels"

586 Indicted... Others Under Investigation

Last year, 622 perjurers were detected by the prosecution. Among them, the prosecution indicted 586, while the rest are under investigation.

On the 18th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced that the number of perjurers detected by the prosecution last year was 622, an increase of 25.7% compared to 495 in 2022. This represents a 67.2% increase compared to 372 in 2021, when prosecutors could not directly investigate perjury crimes due to the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and the police.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office explained, "In September 2022, the 'Regulations on the Scope of Crimes for Prosecutors to Initiate Investigations (Enforcement Decree)' were revised to include crimes that obstruct judicial order such as perjury in the scope of crimes prosecutors can initiate investigations on, leading to an increase in direct investigations by the prosecution." They added, "The number of perjurers booked has returned to the level before the reduction of prosecutorial investigative authority." In 2019, just before the reduction of prosecutorial investigative authority, the prosecution detected 589 perjurers. The acquittal rates for crimes obstructing judicial order, including perjury and harboring criminals, also slightly decreased. The first trial acquittal rate last year was 0.92%, down 0.02 percentage points from the previous year, and the second trial acquittal rate was 1.38%, down 0.18 percentage points.

Among the major perjury cases disclosed by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office last year was a case related to Kim Yong, former deputy director of the Democratic Research Institute and a close aide to Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party. On the 1st, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted two individuals from Lee’s presidential campaign on charges of detention, and indicted witness Mr. Lee without detention. They are accused of coercing and submitting fabricated evidence to witness Mr. Lee, who appeared in Kim’s trial, to give false alibi testimony that "Mr. Kim was with me on the day the prosecution pointed out he received money."

There was also a man who falsely testified for money in a rape and injury case involving his ex-girlfriend (Incheon District Prosecutors' Office). This man asked the victim’s new boyfriend, "I will give you 50 million won if you get the victim to retract her statement," and the new boyfriend, driven by greed, accepted the offer and persuaded the victim to "retract the statement as if it was falsely reported." However, when the victim refused to retract her statement, the man lied to the perpetrator in detention by saying, "I have a recording of the statement retraction," and extorted money. These acts were uncovered through the prosecution’s victim investigation and mobile phone forensic analysis, and they were ultimately prosecuted for instigating perjury, perjury, and evidence fabrication.

Other perjury cases included members of the 'Wonju Anchovy faction' (Wonju Branch) who were mass indicted for trying to conceal assault and confinement charges against defectors, and a driver who coached three passengers to commit perjury after drunk driving (Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office). The Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated, "We will strictly punish crimes that obstruct judicial order such as perjury and evidence fabrication to establish the awareness that lies do not work in court and that there are consequences for lying."

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