Figures from the presidential campaign of President Lee Jae Myung who were indicted for asking a witness to give false testimony in the trial of Kim Yong, former deputy head of the Democratic Research Institute, were acquitted at the trial of first instance. However, the charge of submitting fabricated evidence in court was found guilty, and a fine was imposed.

On the 10th, Presiding Judge Park Kang-gyun of the Seoul Central District Court, Criminal Division 4 single-judge panel, acquitted Mr. Park and Mr. Seo, who served as heads of the situation room of President Lee Jae Myung's election committee during the 2022 presidential race, of subornation of perjury. Mr. Lee, who, at their request, committed perjury in the trial of former deputy head Kim and was indicted on charges including perjury and evidence fabrication, was found guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year.

The case stemmed from the trial of former deputy head Kim, who was indicted on charges of receiving 847 million KRW in illegal political funds under the pretext of funding President Lee Jae Myung's presidential primary campaign. At the time, prosecutors specified that on May 3, 2021, former deputy head Kim met private developer Nam Wook, connected to the Daejang-dong project, at an office in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and received 100 million KRW of the illicit funds. Park and Seo are accused of asking Mr. Lee, who was scheduled to testify as a witness in Kim's trial, to give the false testimony that ‘he met former deputy head Kim that day for a work-related consultation’.

However, the court held that “it is difficult to rule out the possibility that Mr. Lee gave false testimony based on his own judgment.” Considering that Mr. Lee had attempted to enter politics for decades and that he testified in court that “he had a vague expectation and worldly desire that, if he helped Kim Yong, he might later receive assistance from Kim Yong or Lee Jae Myung for his political life,” the court determined that the prosecution claim that ‘Mr. Lee gave false testimony because of the two individuals’ was not sufficiently proven.

It went on to state that “given common experience, it is unusual that Mr. Lee, who had long been active in groups such as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and had even run for the Gyeonggi governor election as a member of the Justice Party, would decide to commit perjury at the request of two people whose political careers were shorter and who were younger than he was.” Accordingly, it found Mr. Lee guilty of perjury, but determined Mr. Park and Mr. Seo not guilty of subornation of perjury.

The court also pointed out “problems” with the content of the ‘false testimony’ that Park and Seo allegedly requested from Mr. Lee. Prosecutors asserted that although Mr. Lee remembered ‘meeting Kim Yong until 4:30 p.m.’, Park and Seo asked him to ‘testify that the meeting lasted until 40 to 50 minutes’, and therefore he gave false testimony. In response, the court stated that “it is a stretch to see this as having suborned testimony to delay the end time of the meeting by 10 to 20 minutes,” adding, “it is unclear what meaning such a request would even have in creating a favorable environment in the case of former deputy head Kim.”

However, the court found guilty the charge (use of forged evidence) that Mr. Park and Mr. Lee manipulated a mobile phone scheduling application (app) screenshot and submitted it to the panel hearing the case of former deputy head Kim. The court stated that “Mr. Park, despite knowing that Mr. Lee had manipulated the calendar by entering the name of former deputy head Kim, accepted it and passed it to the defense counsel for former deputy head Kim, and this should be regarded as an implicit conspiracy to submit the manipulated calendar to the court as evidence.” Accordingly, only the charge of using forged evidence was recognized as guilty for Mr. Park, and he was sentenced to a fine of 5 million KRW.