Ruling party head calls for fair trial for main opposition leader

With a Seoul court scheduled to deliver a verdict later this week on charges that the main opposition leader violated the Public Official Election Act, ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon on Monday called for the judicial authorities to carry out a fair trial, saying that “the nature of the crime is very severe.”

“I request South Korea’s judicial authorities to make judgments in accordance with the law, no more nor no less, than how it does with the ordinary citizens,” Han said during the party’s Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly in western Seoul.

“We are not attempting to get ourselves involved in the trial, but merely requesting the judicial authorities to play their parts,” he added.

On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court is expected to deliver a verdict in the trial of Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung who is accused of lying during the campaign for the 2022 presidential election about a high-profile land development project pursued by the Seongnam city government, south of Seoul, during his term as mayor.

Prosecutors, in September, demanded a two-year prison sentence for Lee on charges of making false statements during the previous presidential election. The sentence, if finalized, would bar him from running in the next presidential election scheduled for 2027, in which observers say Lee is seeking to run as a candidate.

Lee and the Democratic Party have repeatedly denied the accusations and claimed that the prosecutors have fabricated the charges against the main opposition leader.

Han highlighted that “the nature of the crime is very severe” because the alleged lying “managed to have partial effects” on the process and the outcome of the 2022 election.

Han also called for the Seoul court to greenlight a live television broadcast of Lee’s upcoming trial. He mentioned the 2023 request by current US President-elect Donald Trump’s attorneys to authorize a live, in-courtroom television coverage of a trial on charges that he conspired to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss.

“The Democratic Party has been comparing Lee with US President-elect Donald Trump, but (unlike Lee), Trump has requested a live broadcast of his trials in November 2023 citing the heightened interest of the voters,” Han explained.

“If (Lee) is actually innocent, then there is no reason (not to do the live broadcast).”

Lee is currently embroiled in multiple legal battles, including charges that he violated the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act in a North Korean remittance case; allegations of development project-related bribery; election law violations and perjury.