Parties clash over perjury conviction of ex-official Lee Hwa-young

A court ruling sentencing former Gyeonggi Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young to four months in prison for perjury has ignited a fierce political battle between South Korea's ruling and opposition parties. The verdict, stemming from Lee's testimony regarding an alleged "salmon drinking party," has become a focal point for their ongoing disputes.

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The 'manipulated investigation' frame by the giant ruling party and President Lee Jae-myung was clearly a grand deception to the public.

The People Power Party seized on the perjury conviction, declaring it proof that the Democratic Party's narrative of a "manipulated investigation" by prosecutors was a "grand deception" aimed at misleading the public. Party spokesperson Park Sung-hoon asserted that Lee's "absurd lies" were central to the Democratic Party's strategy to discredit the investigation into the alleged bribery case involving Ssangbangul. He criticized the opposition for leveraging these claims to hold parliamentary hearings and threaten impeachment proceedings against prosecutors.

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To talk about a grand deception based solely on a perjury charge, without the specific details of the ruling, is clearly misleading public opinion.

In response, the Democratic Party dismissed the ruling party's accusations as an attempt to distort public opinion, emphasizing that Lee was acquitted on all core charges, including bribery and embezzlement. The party argued that the court's decision to dismiss these charges, citing violations of the defendant's right to defense due to insufficient evidence, supports their claims of illegal investigations and fabricated testimonies. They highlighted the court's finding that Lee's defense rights were infringed upon, suggesting this vindicates their earlier investigations into prosecutorial misconduct.

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The court's judgment that the prosecution infringed upon the defendant's right to defense with charges filed without evidence proves that the illegal investigation and testimony manipulation allegations uncovered by the Democratic Party during the parliamentary audit were largely recognized.

The Democratic Party also pointed out the narrow 4-3 jury verdict on the perjury charge, suggesting it was not a clear-cut case of intentional falsehood. They reiterated Lee's consistent statements about the "salmon drinking party" and noted that a polygraph test indicated his statements were truthful. The party stressed that the verdict is not final and intends to appeal, asserting that the full reasoning behind the judgment needs further examination in the appellate process.

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The perjury charge itself was decided with an extremely tight 4-3 split among the jury.