■ Host: Lee Yeo-jin, anchor Jang Won-seok
■ Starring: Attorney Oh Sun-hee
* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News PLUS] when quoting.
[Anchor]
Prosecutors investigating allegations of private use of corporate credit cards in Gyeonggi Province have additionally indicted Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, on charges of professional negligence.
[Anchor]
CEO Lee will also be sentenced to the first trial of perjury teacher next week. Let's take a look at the related contents with lawyer Oh Sun-hee. Please come in.
[O Sunhee]
Hello, I'm lawyer Oh Sun-hee. [Anchor] In fact, after Kim Hye-kyung was convicted in the first trial of violating the election law last Thursday, the prosecution's investigation into the alleged misappropriation of corporate cards against Lee Jae-myung and his wife was expected to gain momentum.
[O Sunhee]
That's right. This was written in the last ruling against Kim Hye-kyung. It is stated in the judgment that there is a circumstance that you may have known, and the judgment is actually very important evidence for other cases. It's because
has already been recognized by the court. However, he was indicted unexpectedly quickly, and I think he was prosecuted right away after putting this on because the ruling came in while the prosecution had already arranged to prosecute this. Rather than doing research with this, I think it's a way to add it to a predetermined content.
[Anchor]
Then, what is the specific charge that CEO Lee Jae-myung is facing?
[O Sunhee]
It's a breach of duty. I have to manage the breach of duty well in my work, but I violated the duty, so if you say it here, it's Gyeonggi-do. A case of damage to Gyeonggi-do and a third party, that is, a person or a third party, has a benefit is called malpractice. In this case, CEO Lee Jae-myung damaged Gyeonggi-do Province and used its assets for his own or third-party interests when he was governor of Gyeonggi-do Province.
[Anchor]
Now CEO Lee Jae-myung has repeatedly refused to comply with the prosecution's summons, and Kim Hye-kyung attended once, but returned home in about two hours without answering. But Kim Hye-kyung was suspended from prosecution and only CEO Lee Jae-myung was prosecuted.
[O Sunhee]
That's right. Usually, there's an investigation practice. In the case of a family member, a couple or brother or children or parents being investigated as accomplices together, one person was much less involved and the act was inevitably involved. There's a practice of not actively leading in this way, and in this case, deferring prosecution.
To the effect that prosecuting the entire family is too much. However, Kim Hye-kyung suspended her prosecution because she said the lead or participation in the crime was low.
[Anchor]
However, if you look back on the memory of 2022, when the police sent it to the prosecution, Kim Hye-kyung sent it and Lee Jae-myung did not send it. It's changed now. Why do you think you did that?
[O Sunhee]
First of all, Kim Hye-kyung's suspension of prosecution is the purpose of acknowledging the crime but letting it slide. Kim Hye-kyung's case is the same as the police's judgment, and the rest is about Lee Jae-myung, but in fact, it was and still is not the evidence that Lee Jae-myung ordered or was directly involved, but when we looked at the whole thing, Lee Jae-myung knew and acted in breach of trust. It is expected that Lee Jae-myung also knew and acted in breach of trust under this overall circumstance because we fully recognize the intention of the crime, not the target or target criminal.
So I think Lee Jae-myung took the lead more, but I don't think there is any evidence that Lee Jae-myung was directly involved in the police and ordered it. [Anchor] I spent 106.5 million won privately using the Gyeonggi-do corporate card and budget. I saw the prosecution, but if I am found guilty, should I return this much to Gyeonggi-do?
[O Sunhee]
Since breach of duty is a property crime, the court first sentences the property crime, whether it is a fine or a prison sentence. If there is a request from the prosecution, additional fines will be imposed, and if the judgment on the additional collection of profits is included in the judgment to prevent the criminal proceeds from being kept, there are situations in which additional fines must be paid according to the contents.
[Anchor]
Then, can you point out what specific contents and what kind of private use were problematic?
[O Sunhee]
First of all, I used the vehicle as I wanted. The governor of Gyeonggi-do Province, the prosecutor's office, and the lawmaker can use vehicles for work. But now, the prosecution has used the vehicle for private purposes, not for work. According to the announcement, the car was parked at Lee Jae-myung's house and used, and this is a problem because gas, car wash, and fines were paid for Gyeonggi-do Province, but it is actually difficult to distinguish between guilt and innocence.
For example, if a high-ranking official drives an official car to his house and then uses it to leave work. Before going to work tomorrow morning, I didn't send this car back to the office, so I parked at my house without sending it back. If I go back and forth, it will cost more gas, so is it a breach of trust if I park at home? You might be questioned like this. There are also cases of car wash fees earlier, but the car will get dirty even when using it for official purposes.
Then, how to distinguish between car wash costs when using for official purposes and when using for private purposes? In this way, if you look at the use of cars, some parts will be used for official purposes, and some parts will be used for private purposes, it is expected that there will be a sharp confrontation between how this amount is calculated and whether it is used for official purposes or not.
[Anchor]
But CEO Lee Jae-myung has to use the official car for tolerance, so wouldn't it be more problematic for Kim Hye-kyung to use it? Because there was a wife's team, Kim Hye-kyung frequently operated an official car in her personal body and hospital access, and the prosecution was looking at it like this.
[O Sunhee]
Not only do public officials work for Kim Hye-kyung using her wife's team, but Kim Hye-kyung is not a public official, so she provided convenience for individuals to use. Kim Hye-kyung's personal business is completely personal, and I think this part will be sharply discussed.
[Anchor]
By the way, does the wife's team originally exist? Is it a practice? Is it in other provinces?
[O Sunhee]
I know it's a practice. This is because the same goes for the presidential office, but the higher the level of public officials, the more the spouse assists and helps the work, so there are aspects in which public officials assist. But there's a part where it's hard to separate. So, for example, when your spouse is helping you with your work at the governor's event, it is necessary to think about whether it is an individual or not.
[Anchor]
So now, the prosecution believes that there was an organized breach of trust in the process of operating the wife's team, right?
[O Sunhee]
That's right. Because it is difficult for civil servants to work or use the resources of Gyeonggi-do for Kim Hye-kyung's individual, it is difficult if all civil servants do not cooperate, so if the government officials moved systematically, it would be impossible without Lee Jae-myung's approval or approval, we had no choice but to know the overall situation even if Lee Jae-myung did not direct his order. It seems to have paid attention to this point.
[Anchor]
It's not just official cars right now. Now, the wife's team paid 8.89 million won worth of personal foods such as beef, sushi, soup, and dishes requested by CEO Lee Jae-myung and Kim Hye-kyung, and 27.91 million won worth of fruits such as ritual goods. The sandwich for breakfast was 6.82 million won. He spent all of these things on the budget of Gyeonggi Province.
[O Sunhee]
In particular, in the case of Kim Hye-kyung, meals, sandwiches, and sushi, the contents came from the previous public election method. So because there was a conviction, there are not only this case, but also cases that are linked now, so how to explain and respond to these two cases seems very important legally. Just because only one case is sorted out doesn't mean that it's sorted out at all.
[Anchor]
As you explained briefly earlier, can you tell me in detail how the court explained this in the case of violation of the Public Official Election Act last week?
[O Sunhee]
The court stated in great detail in the ruling that representative Lee Jae-myung and Kim Hye-kyung knew about or approved the situation just by looking at the indirect situation. That's why at this time, at the time of the Public Official Election Act trial against Kim Hye-kyung, sandwiches went home, and there was a situation where he was delivered and ordered to bring the price directly to the public officials.
And what to do after payment, since there is no representative Lee Jae-myung's, but there are civil servants', the government officials would not have moved like this if they did not condone this, because the court made this judgment in the previous case. How the judgment of the court will affect this case. Or how the contents of the ruling on Kim Hye-kyung's trial can be changed in other trials in the future is considered to be an important legal issue.
[Anchor]
With the prosecution's indictment today, representative Lee Jae-myung has been indicted for the sixth time since the Yoon Suk Yeol government. Five trials, including some merged trials, will be held. Isn't the first trial of the perjury teacher scheduled for next Monday?
[O Sunhee]
Sentencing is continuous, and the perjury teacher case, for example, is a case with too many fines, but the perjury teacher case is considered a crime against the judicial system in the case of perjury or innocence, so unless you admit it and confess, imprisonment is actually a crime. So, including this case, CEO Lee Jae-myung is now denying the perjury teacher case, so if there is a prison sentence, there will be several prison sentences, which is a very burdensome situation.
[Anchor]
In fact, many legal professionals and politicians expected that the charges of perjury would be heavier than the sentence of violation of the election law last week. How much do you expect?
[O Sunhee]
As I told you, perjury teachers are basically crimes that reduce the sentence if you confess and admit it. If you deny it, the sentence is always sentenced to prison, and basically, there is a difference between one year in prison and probation or not. So, between October, a year, and a year and June of imprisonment, there will be a probation, no, I think there will be a difference of this much.
[Anchor]
However, there is also an opinion that it is unlikely to end with five trials now. Since the prosecution is conducting two more investigations into representative Lee Jae-myung, the number of trials could increase to seven.
[O Sunhee]
We don't know whether to prosecute just because the investigation is going on, but the other two cases are also very prolonged, and this is not so prolonged when it comes to investigation to acquit people, so there is a clear aspect of the process of revealing the contents, which is to gather evidence for prosecution, so if prosecution is made, the perjury teacher case will be sentenced, but if additional prosecution is made later, it is highly likely that the Central District Court will have multiple trials, Suwon, and two trials at once.
[Anchor]
Can you give me a brief summary of the 2 cases currently under investigation?
[O Sunhee]
One is the case of double bubble remittance to North Korea that we commonly know. The case involved Lee Jae-myung's request to Ssangbangwool, so I don't know what will happen because they are fighting in many ways, but the investigation period has been going on for several years, so there is this part, and one is Baekhyun-dong and Daejang-dong. So that's also a very long situation where there's a lot of room for dispute.
[Anchor]
As in the election law violation trial, whether or not to broadcast the perjury teacher charge trial live is also expected to be decided, so what do you predict?
[O Sunhee]
It's likely to be live. This is because if the court thinks there is no justification to stop the sentence, wouldn't it be broadcast live anyway? I did a previous case and I think there is a good possibility that this case will be. There is also the peculiarity of the perjury teacher case. So, I didn't have to do it during the election law, but I think there is a possibility that the case of perjury will be sufficient because I think it is a case against the court and the court.
[Anchor]
I just asked about two cases that the prosecution is investigating, and you mentioned two cases that are currently being tried, so I corrected them a little. The Seongnam Branch's Detective Division 3 is investigating Seongnam City's allegations of preferential treatment related to a hotel in Jeongja-dong, Bundang-gu, Gyeonggi-do. In the other case, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office is investigating Lee's alleged sponsorship of split.
Anyway, why don't the court decide whether to broadcast the perjury teacher charge trial live next Monday? How do you view it?
[O Sunhee]
As I said earlier, if the perjury teacher case is sentenced to more than 1 million won like the election law case, representative Lee Jae-myung will be in a very big situation where he will be elected in the future, so it seems that he did not allow live broadcasting in anticipation of confusion, but the perjury teacher case has a high sentence, but this does not cause any social problems. Because of that, it is a case where live broadcasting is allowed, so I think the court will have concerns.
[Anchor]
Let's look at the next topic. Yonsei University's essay issue for early admission in 2025 was leaked in advance, which turned into a legal dispute. Since the court decided to suspend the effectiveness of the test, the solidarity immediately took action against it and the interrogation began at 5 p.m. today. What is the issue?
[O Sunhee]
It's a disposition. So, it's about not presenting now, but the current issue is not presenting, so do we keep the existing test and announce the successful candidates? That's the question of whether the disadvantages are greater or less for all other test takers. Disposition is recognized if you think there is irreversible damage to the disposition, so if you judge that presenting the successful candidates right now is irreversible, the disposition will be recognized and the objection made by Yonsei University is likely to be rejected.
[Anchor]
Now, the Korea National University Suhyup Council and the union of professors of the Korea National University (KUU) urged Yonsei University yesterday to immediately re-examine the test, but the solidarity did not seriously infringe on its fairness. That's why you're in this position to fight that part in court, right?
[O Sunhee]
That's right. I filed an objection today, so it's time for the interrogation to end. The results come out right away. If the results come out, Yonsei University announced today that if the objection is not accepted, it will even appeal. The decision is being made now, whether it is a re-exam or a presentation, or a method of transferring the number of occasional students to the regular schedule without recruiting the number of students. There are 10,000 students now, but Yonsei University is dragging its feet, so as time goes by, the overall college admission schedule will be quite long.
In that case, the damage to the examinees will be too great, so I think Yonsei University's decision to judge after the appeal is not taken into account the examinee's position.
[Anchor]
The federation asked me to have an opportunity to receive an appeal decision before December 13th, the date of the announcement of the successful candidate, so would this be physically possible?
[O Sunhee]
If it's a normal event, it's not that urgent. However, since this case is a very sensitive case, a scheduled case, and the court knows how serious this is, we can speed up the appeal case. However, no matter how much you hurry, it won't be like this tomorrow.
It needs to be received, distributed, and time to review, so no matter how fast it goes, it needs to be consumed for about two weeks. However, as time goes by, the time to arrive on time and announce the successful candidates is approaching, so you may not be able to retake the test. The legal burden on Yonsei University is bound to increase because test takers have suffered strange damage that only five out of six have been taken, and the damage increases as time goes by.
[Anchor]
If this doesn't work, wouldn't it lead to a bigger lawsuit later?
[O Sunhee]
That's right. Because the original problem in this case was that the test center mistook the time for the 2 o'clock test for the 1 o'clock test, and gave the question an hour earlier, and it was collected 15 minutes later, and the test takers who had been in the room could use electronic devices and cell phones as they liked. However, since this is not a problem of 30 people, but it was leaked outside, Yonsei University is at fault for fairness, so if Yonsei University is sued by all of its 10,000 test takers later, Yonsei University will be burdened.
[Anchor]
The police reportedly specified some authors who posted essay questionnaires online. What kind of investigation will take place?
[O Sunhee]
Why did you film it and post it after watching this? And did you know the answer in advance, how much did you distribute to others? That's all I'm going to do. However, Yonsei University's fault is too great to hold the leaked test takers accountable, so the police can explain the facts with this, but it seems to be another matter of whether they can punish the test takers. As for the leak of the problem.
[Anchor]
Now, the Solidarity is considering a plan to carry over the number of people that were scheduled to be selected from time to time. Regarding this, the Solidarity of Professors said, "There is no possibility that the University Admissions Committee of the Korean University Council will allow it because it violates students' expectations and interests." What do you think?
[O Sunhee]
It means that out of 10,000 students, all of them will not be accepted and all of them will be selected on time. Then, all the people who applied for early admission and actually passed the exam will be damaged at once, so this method can be said to be very irresponsible, so I think this opinion came out that it is difficult to allow.
[Anchor]
I was with Attorney Oh Sun-hee. Thank you.
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