Supreme Court precedent not applicable to Lee Jae-myung's sentencing due to difference in nature of disclosure setting

[Anchor]

The first trial court that sentenced Representative Lee Jae-myung to a suspended prison term judged that the Supreme Court precedent that saved him from the risk of disqualification in the past does not apply this time.

Reporter Kim Young-hoon will explain what differences the court saw.

[Report]

During the 2018 Gyeonggi Province governor candidate debate.

[Kim Young-hwan/then candidate of the Bareunmirae Party for Gyeonggi Province governor: "You were trying to have your brother committed to a mental hospital, right?"]

[Lee Jae-myung/then candidate of the Democratic Party for Gyeonggi Province governor: "I have never done such a thing."]

Afterwards, Lee Jae-myung, who was elected as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, was indicted for the charge of false information disclosure due to this statement.

He was sentenced to disqualification in the appeals court, but what saved him was the Supreme Court's 2020 decision to overturn the conviction on the grounds of not guilty.

At that time, the Supreme Court stated, "In the case of a debate, there are limitations to the clarity of expression due to the ongoing exchange of claims and counterclaims," and "Unless there is intentional distortion of facts, cases that are somewhat inaccurate or open to interpretation should not be evaluated as false information disclosure."

However, the current judiciary of his first trial court viewed that the two statements made by Representative Lee, "I did not play golf with the late Kim Moon-ki," and "There was intimidation from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regarding the change of land-use of the Baekhyeon-dong site," are not subject to the application of this Supreme Court precedent.

The court argued that these two statements were made during a broadcast appearance to clarify positions in response to questions from citizen panels and during a prepared explanation at a National Assembly audit, which are different in nature and context from a debate.

The first trial court's guilty verdict against Representative Lee was based not only on this legal reasoning but also on various evidence and testimonies that were acknowledged.

The sentencing included a video in which the late Kim Moon-ki stated that he had meals and golf schedules with Representative Lee, and regarding the so-called "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport intimidation" statement, testimonies from Seongnam city public officials indicating that there was actually no intimidation from the Ministry were presented as a major basis for the guilty judgment.

This is KBS News, Kim Young-hoon.