Key issues in perjury coaching trial: Outcome could affect Lee's right to run for office

[Anchor]

If a sentence of imprisonment or higher is handed down in tomorrow's (11.25) ruling, it is predicted that the so-called judicial risk for Representative Lee will significantly increase.

Reporter Hyun Ye-seul has summarized the key points of the so-called perjury solicitation trial in an easy-to-understand manner.

[Report]

At the end of 2018, then-Gyeonggi-do Province Governor Lee Jae-myung was indicted for violating election laws due to remarks related to 'impersonating a prosecutor'.

Representative Lee is accused of having called Kim Jin-sung, the late former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byeong-ryang's secretary and key witness, several times to solicit false testimony.

[Call between Kim Jin-sung and Lee Jae-myung/Dec. 22, 2018: "There's no need to talk about things that you didn't see."]

[Call between Kim Jin-sung and Lee Jae-myung/Dec. 24, 2018: "(There was collusion?) It would be best if you could say there was collusion since he was actually a secretary."]

The crime of perjury solicitation requires three elements: 'intent' to induce someone to commit perjury, the act of 'solicitation', and 'false statements'.

The prosecution claims that Kim Jin-sung's acknowledgment of having "committed perjury" serves as evidence of false testimony, arguing for Representative Lee's guilt.

On the other hand, Representative Lee's side argues that there is no direct expression of 'please commit perjury' in the recordings, and that statements like 'reviving memories' do not constitute a crime.

Whether Kim Jin-sung's testimony influenced the trial regarding Representative Lee's election law violation, for which he received a not guilty verdict from the Supreme Court in 2020, is also a point of contention.

The prosecution believes that Kim's perjury may have had an impact, but Representative Lee's side denies this.

If a sentence of imprisonment or higher is handed down in tomorrow's perjury solicitation trial and is confirmed by the Supreme Court thereafter, Representative Lee will lose his parliamentary seat and will also be deprived of his eligibility to run for office, preventing him from participating in future elections.

This is KBS News, Hyun Ye-seul.