Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, arrives at the Seoul High Court to attend the final hearing of his trial on his election law violation charge on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, arrives at the Seoul High Court to attend the final hearing of his trial on his election law violation charge on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

Prosecutors on Wednesday sought a 2-year prison sentence for Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chair of South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and its likely presidential candidate, over charges of election law violations.

In the fifth and sixth final hearings for Lee’s appellate trial at the Seoul High Court, prosecutors insisted the court impose a sentence harsher than the lower court’s ruling. In the initial verdict delivered in November last year, he was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years.

“If the standards for applying the Public Official Election Act vary by the defendant’s status, political circumstances and eligibility to run for office or party affiliation, it would undermine the very purpose of the law,” the prosecutors stated.

They also emphasized that those who distort voters’ decisions through lies must be severely punished regardless of their position.

Lee was indicted for making false statements by claiming that he did not know the late Kim Moon-ki, former head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Development Corporation, during a televised interview as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in December 2021. Lee was a Seongnam mayor.

He also faces allegations of making false claims that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport pressured officials regarding the zoning change of the Korea Food Research Institute site in Baekhyeon-dong, Seongnam.

This was at the center of the scandal that afflicted Lee throughout the previous presidential election, in which then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol, among other contenders, accused Lee of favoring a specific private developer for the project.

Lee filed an appeal against the lower court ruling, which would lead to the loss of his parliamentary seat if upheld. He insisted that there were errors in the fact-finding process, misinterpretation of the law and unjust sentencing.

The verdict on Lee’s appeal will be delivered on March 26, widely seen as the biggest hurdle for his presidential campaign.


sj_lee@heraldcorp.com