Former campaign aides to President Lee Jae-myung, who were indicted on charges of soliciting false testimony in the trial over illegal political funds received by former Democratic Research Institute Vice President Kim Yong, have been acquitted of subornation of perjury.
Park Kang-gyun, a senior judge at the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Single-Judge Division 4, acquitted a defendant surnamed Seo, who had been indicted on charges including subornation of perjury, on Wednesday. A defendant surnamed Park, who was also brought to trial on the same charge, was acquitted of subornation of perjury but found guilty of using forged evidence and sentenced to a fine of 5 million won. Lee, the former head of the Gyeonggi Market Vitalization Agency who gave false testimony, was sentenced to six months in prison with one year of probation.
Park and Seo were indicted on charges of asking former agency head Lee to "testify as though he had met Kim Yong on the date that prosecutors had specified as the time of the money transfer," in an effort to rebut the charge that Kim received 100 million won from former Seongnam Development Corporation chief Yoo Dong-gyu in May 2021.
The court acknowledged the fact that former agency head Lee committed perjury, but judged that it had not been sufficiently proven that Park and others suborned the perjury. Rather, it found that Lee had a motive to commit perjury on his own. "Lee stated that he decided to provide help with a vague expectation that, if he helped Kim Yong, he could receive protection from Kim Yong or Lee Jae-myung in the course of continuing his future political activities," the court said. "Considering the motive for perjury and the degree of awareness, there is sufficient room to find that he made false statements according to his own judgment even without being asked to give false testimony."
However, the court found him guilty on the charge of using forged evidence. The court determined that it was established that former agency head Lee manipulated his schedule. "Lee entered the name 'Kim Yong,' which had not originally existed, into his mobile phone schedule, or restored and processed deleted data before creating a photo of the schedule," the court said. "As both Park and Lee were aware that the court in the Kim Yong case had requested submission of the previous mobile phone to verify input times and other details, it can be seen that both of them at least conditionally recognized that the material would be submitted to the court as evidence."
Park and others argued in court that the schedule had already been presented through a document camera, and that the subsequent act of submitting the photo was merely a follow-up action. However, the court judged that "showing the screen in court was merely a procedure to confirm the witness's testimony," and that "the subsequent act of submitting the photo to the court was a separate act of submitting evidence."
"The offense of using forged evidence obstructs the court's examination aimed at revealing the substantive truth by using forged evidence in another person's criminal case, and the nature of the crime is not good," the court said in explaining its sentencing. "However, the offense does not appear to have actively affected the outcome of the Kim Yong case trial, nor does it appear that he obtained or was promised any particular compensation."
Meanwhile, former Vice President Kim was brought to trial on charges including receiving a total of 847 million won in illegal political funds on four occasions from a private businessman surnamed Nam in 2021, in collusion with former chief Yoo and attorney Jung Min-yong. Kim was sentenced to five years in prison, a fine of 70 million won, and forfeiture of 670 million won in both the first and second trials. The case is currently under review at the Supreme Court.
