DP chief Lee makes first court appearance since last week's appellate acquittal

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DP chief Lee makes first court appearance since last week's appellate acquittal

Published: 01 Apr. 2025, 17:35 Updated: 01 Apr. 2025, 18:46

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Democratic Party chief Lee Jae-myung arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, for a hearing on corruption allegations linked to land development projects in Gyeonggi and the Seongnam FC sponsorship case on April 1. [NEWS1]

Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung appeared in court on Tuesday for a hearing on corruption allegations related to development projects in Gyeonggi's Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong and Wirye, as well as the Seongnam FC sponsorship case.

This marks his first court appearance since an appellate court acquitted him last week of violating the Public Official Election Act after he was accused of lying during his previous presidential campaign.

His in-person attendance on Tuesday came after he failed for the fourth time the previous day to appear as a witness in the trial of private developers linked to a controversial land development project in Daejang-dong, Seongnam.

Lee has been fined 3 million won ($2,200) and 5 million won for failing to attend the trial on his second and third summons, respectively. He has been summoned again to testify on April 7 and April 14.

Arriving at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Tuesday, he wore a bulletproof vest and did not respond to reporters’ questions.

The DP leader is currently facing five criminal trials. The cases involving the Daejang-dong, Wirye and Baekhyeon-dong land development scandals, along with the Seongnam FC sponsorship case, stem from his tenure as Seongnam mayor from 2010 to 2018. The Seoul Central District Court has been reviewing these four cases under a single trial.

Prosecutors accuse Lee of granting special benefits to private developers in 2015, allowing them to earn nearly 790 billion won in excessive profits from an apartment development project in Daejang-dong. They argue that his actions inflicted losses of 489.5 billion won to Seongnam Development Corporation.

Additionally, Lee has been indicted for allegedly leaking internal information to private developers in November 2013 regarding the Wirye development project, enabling them to gain some 21.1 billion won in illicit profits.

Regarding the Seongnam FC sponsorship case, Lee is accused of accepting bribes in the form of sponsorship funds from four major companies — including Naver and Doosan Engineering & Construction — totaling around 13.3 billion won between October 2014 and September 2016, in exchange for permits for their headquarters in Seongnam. Seongnam FC is a football club owned by the city.

Democratic Party chief Lee Jae-myung speaks to reporters after being acquitted by the Seoul High Court of violating the Public Official Election Act on March 26. [NEWS1]

Separately, on Tuesday, the Seoul High Court held a preparatory hearing for Lee’s appeals trial on allegations that he suborned a former Seongnam mayoral official in a past legal case.

The court announced that the first hearing for the appeal will take place on May 20, with a second and final hearing scheduled for June 3. The date for the final ruling will be determined during the second hearing.

Prosecutors indicted the DP leader in October last year on charges of suborning a former secretary to ex-Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to commit perjury in February 2019, while Lee was on trial for an alleged election law violation.

In November last year, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Lee of these charges.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]