Lee Soo-jung, chairwoman of the People Power Party's Suwon-Jeong district committee, asked an appellate court to verify the victims' intent to prosecute in her case over a false social media post claiming that President Lee Jae-myung's two sons had been exempted from military service during the 21st presidential election.
At the first appellate hearing held Friday at the Suwon High Court's Criminal Division 14, presided over by Judge Heo Yang-yoon, Lee's defense attorney made the request in the case involving alleged violations of the Public Official Election Act (dissemination of false information and defamation of a candidate) and the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation). "This is the first defamation case I have seen where the victims are unusually absent from the courtroom and do not appear at all in the investigation records," the attorney said.
"The victims' intent to prosecute must be verified. If their personal information had been provided in the first trial, we would have exercised our right of defense by pursuing settlement negotiations, but their intent was not reflected in the records," the attorney said. "Confirming this is also necessary for making a court deposit."
In response, the court said, "Let us proceed with the witness examination requested by the defense and discuss this matter again next time."
Lee was indicted on charges of posting false claims on her Facebook account on May 28 last year, ahead of the presidential election, that "Candidate Lee and his two sons all received military exemptions." She was sentenced to a fine of 3 million won ($2,200) in the first trial. Under the Public Official Election Act, a confirmed fine of 1 million won or more results in restrictions on the right to run for public office, including a five-year ban on candidacy in future elections.
Contrary to the content of Lee's post, President Lee's sons both fulfilled their military service obligations.
After posting and deleting the content, Lee explained, "I shared information circulating online for about 10 seconds, then immediately deleted it upon confirming it was incorrect. Please forgive me."
