Lee Jae-myung found guilty on ‘Baekhyeon-dong’ statements, ruled false disclosure of information

[Anchor]

Let's take a closer look at the court's judgment.

First, reporter Lee Jae-hee reports on why the court found Lee's statements regarding the change of land use in Baekhyeon-dong to be guilty.

[Report]

The Baekhyeon-dong project gained momentum due to an unusual change in land use when Lee Jae-myung was the mayor of Seongnam in 2015.

During the National Assembly audit, allegations of favoritism emerged, and Lee claimed he had no choice but to comply because the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport threatened him, which led to his indictment for the charge of false information disclosure.

[Lee Jae-myung/2021 National Assembly Audit/then Democratic Party presidential candidate & Gyeonggi Province governor: "If I don't (change the land-use designation in Baekhyeon-dong), they threatened that they would raise issues like dereliction of duty...."]

The court first determined that there was no threat from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport during the process of changing the land-use designation from green space to a quasi-residential area.

Based on testimonies from officials and other materials, the court concluded that the change in land-use was based on Seongnam City's independent judgment, and it can be assessed that the then mayor, Lee, reviewed and changed it himself.

Additionally, the court saw that Lee was aware of these facts through multiple reports but still made false statements intentionally during the National Assembly audit by preparing panels in advance.

The court also did not accept Lee's claim that the prosecution unlawfully indicted him for his testimony during the National Assembly audit, which cannot be legally punished.

The court viewed Lee's statement about the 'threat from the Ministry of Land' to be unrelated to the purpose of the National Assembly audit, but as a false disclosure of information to favor his election.

This is KBS News, Lee Jae-hee.