Court clears Lee Jae-myung of intent in perjury inducement case

[Anchor]

Yes, as you just saw, there was perjury, but there was no one who induced the perjury; this is the conclusion that has been reached.

Reporter Kim Beom-joo looked into the logic behind the court's judgment.

[Report]

For the charge of inducing perjury to be recognized, three conditions must be met.

① The witness must commit perjury, ② there must be intent to induce false testimony from that witness, and ③ there must be an actual act of inducement.

The court recognized that out of six statements made by Kim Jin-seong, four were deemed 'false testimony' that contradicted his memory, acknowledging that perjury occurred in court.

However, regarding the remaining condition, the court only partially recognized that Lee Jae-myung induced the perjury, and did not acknowledge that there was intent to induce perjury.

The court first determined that Lee's phone call with Kim and the delivery of his defense summary constituted a 'normal request for testimony' and concluded that it was difficult to view this as a request for perjury regarding any specific fact.

Although Kim wrote a statement after the call and prepared witness examination matters with Lee's lawyer, the court found that this was based on facts he understood himself, and there was insufficient evidence to suggest that Lee was involved in this.

In particular, even if there was an act of 'inducement' by Lee Jae-myung regarding the four instances of Kim's perjury, the court concluded that it would have been difficult for Lee to foresee that Kim would testify or what the content of that testimony would be at the time of the call, thus determining that there was 'no intent to induce.'

In other words, even if Kim testified at the request of Lee, unless Lee Jae-myung's intent to induce perjury through Kim is clearly recognized, it cannot be acknowledged as "inducing perjury."

The court's judgment is evaluated as having strictly distinguished the elements constituting the 'crime of inducing perjury,' and it is expected to be fiercely contested again in the appeals court.

This is KBS News, Kim Beom-joo.