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DP chief appears at hearing in trial on corruption charges during Seongnam mayorship

Published: 17 Jan. 2025, 17:47 Updated: 17 Jan. 2025, 19:07

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, center, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Jan. 17. [YONHAP]

Liberal Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung appeared in court on Friday to attend a hearing in his ongoing trial on corruption charges stemming from his time as mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

Lee, who is widely considered to be the DP frontrunner in the next presidential election, is currently dogged by five criminal indictments filed against him by the state prosecution service.

The hearing he attended on Friday concerned allegations that he committed a breach of trust against the publicly owned Seongnam Development Corporation by skewing the profit distribution structure of a city-led development project in favor of minor private investors.

Lee did not respond to reporters’ questions as he arrived at the Seoul Central District Court.

The case is the third against Lee to go to trial.

The DP chief was handed a suspended one-year jail term by the same court in November after being found guilty of violating the Public Official Election Act for lying on the campaign trail during the 2022 presidential election, which he narrowly lost to now-impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

However, he was acquitted of suborning a former Seongnam mayoral official in a past legal case later the same month.

Both verdicts have been appealed.

If Lee’s initial sentence in his election law case is confirmed on appeal, he would be barred from running in elections for the next five years.

A ruling in his election law case could be issued by late February.

Lee’s legal battles are being closely watched as the country could hold a snap presidential election as early as March if the Constitutional Court decides to uphold Yoon’s impeachment.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]