Seoul: Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday expressed his appreciation to the court for acquitting him from charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor in 2019. "I extend my gratitude to the court for restoring truth and justice," Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, told reporters as he left the Seoul Central District Court. He also urged the government and the ruling party to pursue "politics that saves lives rather than one that kills."According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee is accused of suborning a secretary to former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to give false testimony during a 2019 trial on his alleged election law violations. The alleged offense took place when Lee, as a candidate for Gyeonggi governor, told a TV debate in 2018 that he had been wrongly convicted in the early 2000s of impersonating a prosecutor in front of the Seongnam mayor in order to gather information on an apartment project scandal in collusion with a KBS TV news producer.Lee could have been stripped of his parliamentary seat and barred from running for public office for at least five years after serving his term, including the next presidential election in 2027, if he had been sentenced to a prison term and the ruling was upheld. The latest ruling comes just 10 days after the court sentenced Lee to a suspended one-year prison term in a separate case involving election law violations.
- October 12, 2026
