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DP chief Lee fined 5 million won for third failure to attend development scandal trial

Published: 28 Mar. 2025, 15:18

MICHAEL LEE
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Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung attends a party's Supreme Council meeting in Daejeon on March 28. [YONHAP]

Liberal Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung was handed a fine of 5 million won ($3,400) on Friday for his third failure to attend a trial linked to a development scandal that took place while he served as mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

The fine follows a previous penalty of 3 million won issued against Lee by the Seoul Central District Court for his second refusal to obey a summons to testify at the trial on Monday.

Lee is also scheduled to testify at the trial on March 31, April 7 and April 14.

Under Korean law, a witness who continues to defy a summons without legitimate grounds after being fined can be detained for up to seven days.

The judiciary said it would discuss what measures it might take regarding Lee after the upcoming hearing on Monday.

The private developers on trial are accused of reaping outsized profits from an apartment development project in Daejang-dong, Seongnam, in 2015, which prosecutors argue inflicted losses of 489.5 billion won to the city government.

The developers include Kim Man-bae, owner of the Hwacheon Daeyu asset management company, and Yoo Dong-kyu, a former project manager at the city-owned Seongnam Development Corporation.

Hwacheon Daeyu allegedly raked in 57.7 billion won in profit from an investment of just 49.95 million won in the project.

Lee is also undergoing a separate trial on charges of breach of trust against the city by approving the Daejang-dong project after its profit distribution scheme had been skewed in favor of the private developers.

The Daejang-dong case is the third of five criminal indictments against Lee to go to trial.

Lee was acquitted by the Seoul High Court on Wednesday on charges of violating the country’s election law, though prosecutors said they plan to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court.

He was also acquitted by a trial court in late November on charges of suborning a witness to commit perjury, but prosecutors have also filed an appeal in that case as well.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]