'Corporate Card Allegations' Kim Hye-kyung Appears at First Trial... Court Accepts 'Personal Protection Request'

The court accepted the 'personal protection request' of Kim Hye-kyung, spouse of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who has been indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

Kim Hye-kyung, spouse of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is moving to the court to attend her first trial held at the Suwon District Court in Gyeonggi Province on the afternoon of the 26th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Criminal Division 13 of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Park Jeong-ho) is conducting the first trial session on the charges against Kim for violating the Public Official Election Act from 2 p.m. on the 26th. On this day, the Suwon District Court held a meeting to discuss the protection of personal safety and personal information and accepted Kim's request for personal protection, which was submitted on the 23rd.

On this day, Kim's defense attorney stated, "There was no fact of conspiring with Bae, a former special-position public official at Gyeonggi Provincial Government, and I thought they would never indict, so this indictment is very absurd."

Kim did not respond at all to reporters' questions about whether she was aware of the use of the corporate card and the embezzlement of the corporate card.

Kim is accused of providing a meal worth a total of 100,000 won (a donation act) on August 2, 2021, at a restaurant in Seoul to six people including spouses of Democratic Party members of the National Assembly, Gyeonggi Provincial Government officials, and lawyers.

Earlier, the prosecution completed the investigation on the 14th of this month and indicted her without detention, one year and five months after the statute of limitations for the charges against Kim for violating the Public Official Election Act was suspended.

Meanwhile, regarding the allegations of embezzlement of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government corporate card that surfaced before the last presidential election, the sentence of Bae, a former Grade 5 public official of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government who was sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first and second trials for violating the Public Official Election Act, has been finalized. Bae, who received a 10-month prison sentence with a two-year suspension in the second trial, the same as in the first trial, gave up his appeal to the Supreme Court.

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