Lee Jaemyung's week of destiny...First trial sentenced for 'violation of the Public Official Election Act'

Lee Jae-myung's first sentence for violating the Public Official Election Act this Friday
"I didn't know when Kim Moon-ki was serving as Seongnam Mayor"
"The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport threatened to take issue with dereliction of duty."

[Anchor]
The first trial of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was scheduled to be sentenced this week for violating the Public Official Election Act.

A day earlier, CEO Lee's spouse, Kim Hye-kyung, was also sentenced to the first trial on charges of misappropriating corporate cards.

According to the result of the sentence, it is expected that the political position of representative Lee as well as the future presidential candidate will inevitably be affected.

This is reporter Kim Dahyun.

[Reporter]
Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, who is serving four trials as the leader of the main opposition party, will be sentenced for the first time this Friday.

In December 2021, when he was a presidential candidate, Lee was put on trial for falsely interviewing the late Kim Moon-ki, a key business practitioner, while serving as Seongnam mayor to draw a line with the allegations of corruption in Daejang-dong development.

[Lee Jae-myung / Then-Democratic presidential candidate (last 2021, SBS News): (Director Kim Moon-ki, did you know a little while you were mayor?) I didn't know when I was mayor. I was a subordinate employee.]

In October of the same year, he is also accused of making false statements to the effect that "the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport threatened to make a problem with the dereliction of duty and was forced to change its use."

Representative Lee claimed that it was a subjective expression of "don't know" during the trial, and that the remarks of "dereliction of duty" were unintentional because the exact term did not come up.

However, the prosecution demanded a two-year prison term for Lee at the final hearing, saying that strict punishment is necessary to protect the constitutional values of election fairness and democracy, regardless of whether the status is high or low.

He also emphasized that he did not consider matters other than the judicial domain, such as CEO Lee's position, but demanded it solely based on the seriousness, nature of the crime, and the outcome of the crime.

Representative Lee will be sentenced to a fine of more than 1 million won for violating the Public Official Election Act, and if the sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court, he will lose his parliamentary seat and be deprived of his right to run for the next five years.

Conversely, if the court finds it innocent, the prosecution could be caught up in the headwind of unreasonable prosecution.

A day before Representative Lee's sentence, the first trial of spouse Kim Hye-kyung was also scheduled to be sentenced for misappropriation of corporate credit cards,

The result of this week's consecutive sentence will inevitably have a significant impact on Lee's political position as well as his future presidency.

I'm YTN's Kim Dahyun.

Edit
Video: Yun Yong-jun
Design: Baek Seungmin