Camp aide acquitted of suborning perjury in Kim Yong trial; witness convicted

A former head of the Gyeonggi Province Market and Commercial District Promotion Agency was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year, after being convicted of perjury in the trial of Kim Yong, former vice chairman of the Democratic Research Institute, on charges of illegal political funds and bribery. Two associates of President Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign who were tried alongside him on charges of suborning perjury were acquitted.

The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 4 handed down the suspended sentence Tuesday against the former agency head, identified only by his surname Lee, on charges including perjury and use of fabricated evidence. A campaign associate surnamed Park, who faced charges of suborning perjury and using fabricated evidence, was fined 5 million won (about $3,290); the court acquitted him of the suborning charge. Another campaign associate surnamed Seo was also acquitted.

The charges stemmed from April 2023, when Kim Yong stood trial on illegal political funding allegations. Park and Seo were specifically charged with asking Lee to give false testimony to conceal Kim's alleged acceptance of money.

Prosecutors alleged that Park and Seo asked Lee to testify falsely — telling him to claim he had met Kim Yong on the specific date prosecutors identified as when Kim received a bribe — in order to rebut the allegation that Kim had received 100 million won from Yoo Dong-gyu, former head of a division at Seongnam Development Corp.

The court acquitted Park and Seo of suborning perjury. "The evidence submitted by prosecutors alone is insufficient to establish that they induced Lee to decide to give false testimony," the court said.

The court added that Lee had stated in court that he harbored a vague hope that by helping Kim Yong, he might be able to continue his political career and receive assistance from both Kim and President Lee in the future. "There is a possibility that he committed perjury of his own accord, even without being asked by Park or Seo," the court said.

However, the court found Park and Lee guilty of using fabricated evidence — specifically, manipulating a smartphone calendar application and submitting the altered screenshots to the court presiding over Kim Yong's case.

"Park received the calendar entry that Lee had manipulated by entering Kim Yong's name, knowing it had been altered, and passed it on to Kim Yong's defense counsel," the court said. "It must be concluded that there was an implicit conspiracy to submit the fabricated calendar as evidence."

On sentencing, the court said in both cases that using fabricated evidence is a crime that obstructs the court's fact-finding process and that the conduct was of poor character. It noted, however, that the offense did not directly affect the criminal proceedings against Kim Yong, and that the defendants neither received nor were promised any benefit in exchange.