South Korean official found guilty of perjury over 'salmon alcohol party' claims

A South Korean court has found Lee Hwa-young, former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province, guilty of perjury for fabricating claims about a "salmon alcohol party" where he alleged prosecutors pressured him to give false testimony in a case linked to presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung. The Suwon District Court sentenced him to four months in prison.

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The defendant's testimony lacks consistency and credibility.

The court found Lee's testimony inconsistent and lacking credibility, noting that a jury of seven found no evidence of alcohol being provided. Lee had claimed that during his questioning in May 2023, prosecutors offered him alcohol and salmon, attempting to coerce him into implicating Lee Jae-myung. This ruling significantly undermines Lee Hwa-young's defense strategy, which relied heavily on these allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

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Prosecutors attempted to fabricate testimony to link President Lee Jae-myung to the case.

However, the legal fight is far from over. Lee Hwa-young plans to appeal the verdict, and the jury's decision was narrowly divided, with four members finding the alcohol party did not occur. Furthermore, a special prosecutor is investigating separate allegations that prosecutors improperly pressured witnesses. The court also noted prosecutorial overreach in other charges, dismissing some cases due to abuse of power, suggesting that while Lee Hwa-young's specific perjury claim was disproven, broader questions about the prosecution's conduct remain.

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The prosecution's abuse of power in indicting Shin Myung-seop without objective evidence of conspiracy with Lee Hwa-young, leading to a guilty verdict against Shin before Lee's separate indictment, constitutes an abuse of prosecutorial power.