"Charges of perjury teachers." Lee Jae-myung is sentenced to three years in prison..."The prosecution manipulated the case".

[Anchor]
Prosecutors today demanded three years in prison for Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was indicted on charges of perjury.

As I told you, CEO Lee's first trial sentence is scheduled to take place on November 25th.

Let's talk more with Kwon Min-seok of the Ministry of Social Affairs today.Welcome to the press of

. The "perjury teacher case" involving CEO Lee Jae-myung has been reported as breaking news about when the decision will be made today, so please explain what this content is about first.

[Reporter]
It goes back a long time. Back in 2002, it was time for a civic movement in Seongnam. At that time, KBS producer Choi Chul-ho and I investigated the preferential sale of Baekgung Parkview in Bundang. CEO Lee Jae-myung was fined 1.5 million won in 2004 for helping PD Choi impersonate a prosecutor to cover the phone against former mayor Kim Byung-ryang, who was Seongnam's mayor at the time. At today's final hearing, CEO Lee also complained that the fine was unfair. Representative Lee said in a TV debate 14 years later in May 2018, "I was framed because the PD was impersonating me and I was being interviewed next to him," and the prosecution handed him over to trial, saying the remarks amounted to publicizing false information under the election law. During the trial, Lee is accused of asking Kim Jin-sung, former mayor Kim Byung-ryang's secretary to testify in favor. Kim testified at the 2019 trial as a witness for Lee, and Lee was acquitted by the Supreme Court the following year. However, apart from the acquittal, the prosecution said CEO Lee demanded perjury from Kim, and handed it back to trial in October last year on charges of perjury, and the first trial was held today, 11 months later.

[Anchor]
The prosecution based the transcript of Lee's phone call with his secretary Kim Jin-sung. You're in that position that the content of teaching false testimony has been clearly revealed, right?

[Reporter]
Yes, it's the prosecution's position. The key to the suspicion of perjury is that Lee asked Kim to testify to the effect that there was a collusion between KBS and Seongnam City at the time to make Lee Jae-myung the main culprit of the prosecutor impersonation case. Among the phone calls between CEO Lee and Kim, the transcript shows CEO Lee saying, "It would be helpful if you tell me that it was an incident with a political background," or "You can tell me that you heard such a story." The prosecution emphasizes that these remarks are circumstantial evidence that representative Lee actively taught perjury to Kim in order to be acquitted at trial. The prosecution played the transcript of the call in court during the past trial, strongly pressuring CEO Lee.

[Anchor]
You have organized the prosecution's position well, but CEO Lee seems to refute this position head on.

[Reporter]
On his way to the court today, Lee strongly criticized the prosecution for committing a crime that distorted the law and that it was nothing more than a coup. He refuted that the prosecution is turning him into a perjury teacher by piecing together a transcript, saying, "I'm not Japanese" and "I'm not Japanese." The actual transcript also includes remarks claimed by CEO Lee. "It would be nice if you could bring back your memory and tell me what you are," CEO Lee says to Kim. Whether the context of the transcript mixed with such remarks can be seen as Lee actively asking Kim for perjury is likely to determine whether he is guilty or not. CEO Lee emphasized to reporters that he should listen to the transcript in person, as if conscious of this. I'll listen to it myself.

[Lee Jae-myung / Democratic Party leader: We don't need to talk about facts that don't exist, we're not trying to reconstruct the case. I talked about this 12 times during the 30-minute phone call. However, when the prosecution indicts that it has taught perjury by excluding all such contents and squeezing them, what is this, not case manipulation or evidence manipulation? (The recording of the call was played in court, but do you still think it's the prosecution's knitting?) Journalists should listen to it. Don't ask. Can't you tell when you listen to it? You should at least try to do that.

[Anchor]
On the other hand, Kim, who testified at Lee's trial, admitted that he was perjury, right?

[Reporter]
Kim Jin-sung, who was asked for perjury by CEO Lee, attended the first hearing in January and admitted all the charges, saying, "It is correct to perjure per CEO Lee's request." He also refuted CEO Lee, who drew the line that he was not in a relationship to ask for a lie, saying, "I feel betrayed because I cut my tail." In September last year, Lee, who had been requested for an arrest warrant on various charges, was dismissed by the court, and Lee is at a disadvantage as the warrant judge at the time said that "the charges appear to be cleared" for the perjury teacher charges. For this reason, some in the legal community predict that CEO Lee, who is facing four trials on seven cases and 11 charges at the same time, is most likely to be convicted of perjury.

[Anchor]
The prosecution today demanded a three-year prison sentence for CEO Lee, which is the second prison sentence.

[Reporter]
Earlier on the 20th, the prosecution demanded a two-year prison term for Lee, who is suspected of violating the Public Official Election Act. In December 2021, when he was the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, he made false remarks to the effect that he was not aware of Kim Moon-ki, the former head of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation's development department. Two years in prison is the maximum sentence according to the Supreme Court's sentencing standards in relation to the election law. Today's three-year prison sentence for perjury teacher charges is also the highest in the sentencing criteria for perjury crimes. If CEO Lee is sentenced to more than imprisonment on charges of perjury, as well as suspended prison terms, he or she will lose his or her parliamentary seat immediately and be deprived of his or her right to run for election until the sentence expires. If the Supreme Court confirms the sentence of imprisonment or higher before the 2027 presidential election, the presidential bid could be canceled. There are about two and a half years left until the presidential election. It took about a year to reach the conclusion of the first trial. However, opinions are divided whether the second and third trials will end before the presidential election. While there is an analysis that the contents of the case will not take a long time because it is simple, there is also a prospect that the Supreme Court will continue to suffer because it is a very politically sensitive case.

[Anchor]
In the midst of this, the date of the first trial's sentence came out. November is expected to be a critical juncture for this representative judicial risk.

[Reporter]
The Central District Court's first trial on charges of violating the election law is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on November 15. The first trial of perjury teacher charges will be sentenced on November 25th. The first trial will continue every 10 days. As the results of the first trial are not the final conclusion, if only judicial responsibility is considered separately from the political aftermath, the "unstable label" will continue. In the case of violation of the election law, if a fine of more than 1 million won is confirmed, it can be fatal as it is a five-year deprivation of the right to run for election due to the loss of the parliamentary seat. In the case of perjury teachers, who are ordinary criminal offenders, if they are sentenced to imprisonment or higher, their right to run for election is limited to the loss of their seats. If either of the two trials is found guilty, Lee's representative "judicial risk" will inevitably increase. It will be a difficult journey for CEO Lee as the trial of the development of Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong and the suspicion of remittance to North Korea continues.

[Anchor]
Let's stop here. This has been Kwon Min-seok, a reporter from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thank you for talking today.