Lee awaits a ruling on charges of perjury subornation

Democratic Party of Korea’s leader Lee Jae-myung faces another judicial risk with a sentence hearing for his allegations of subornation of perjury to take place on Monday. If he ends up with imprisonment without prison labor or more severe punishment in the Supreme Court, he will lose his parliamentary seat and stay disqualified to run for an election for at least five years, which will automatically deprive him of his eligibility for presidential candidacy in the 2027 presidential election. Otherwise, he can be relieved of judicial risks with a fine or sentence of innocence, enabling him to turn around public opinions by pushing the ruling party to accept a special probe bill on First Lady Kim Keon Hee.

Lee faces charges of asking Kim Jin-seong, the secretary to the late former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang, to give false testimony at a trial on his accusations of dissemination of untrue facts in February 2019 when he served as Gyeonggi-do Governor. Lee argued that he did not request him to provide false testimony, saying, “I only asked him to testify at a court based on his memories of what exactly happened.” However, the prosecution has requested a maximum sentence of three years according to sentence guidelines.

If he is sentenced to imprisonment or more severe punishment on Monday, just as in the first trial on his infringement of the Public Official Election Act on Nov. 15, it will not be easy for him to get off to a good start on his journey to the presidential election. Rep. Kim Min-seok, a Supreme Council member of the opposition party, said in a press conference at the National Assembly on Sunday that Lee is innocent of all the charges of perjury and subornation. Nevertheless, even pro-Lee politicians are concerned about seeing any unavoidable damage to the system where he has cemented his leadership status if he is sentenced to severe punishment once again in just 10 days.

Lee did not make any official speech – presumably to keep a low profile with the upcoming sentence hearing in mind - at the fourth open-air rally around the Gwanghwamun area on Saturday to condemn First Lady Kim Keon Hee for influence-peddling and call on President Yoon Suk Yeol to accept a special counsel bill on her. The opposition party only had a 30-minute rally. It intends to put another vote on a special probe bill on the first lady at this Thursday’s National Assembly plenary session if President Yoon gives it a veto.


윤명진 mjlight@donga.com