Prosecutors were set to make a sentencing demand Friday for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, two years after he was charged with making false statements during the previous presidential election.

Lee, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was indicted in September of 2022 on charges of lying during the presidential campaign about a high-profile land development project pursued by the Seongnam city government, south of Seoul, during his term as mayor.

The Seoul Central District Court was scheduled to hold a closing hearing on the case Friday, with prosecutors announcing their sentencing demand, and defense lawyers and Lee making final statements.

The court is expected to deliver a verdict sometime next month.

The land development project was at the center of a scandal that plagued Lee during the presidential election, with allegations that Seongnam granted favors to a private developer to secure the lucrative apartment development in the city’s Daejang-dong district and reap a windfall.

Pro
secutors charged Lee with making false remarks in violation of the Public Official Election Act for stating during a television interview in December 2021 that he did not know Kim Moon-ki, who was then a senior development official at Seongnam Development Corp, the city’s development agency, while he was mayor.

Kim, a key figure in the scandal, was found dead at his office while under investigation.

The DP leader is also charged with lying about being verbally threatened by the land ministry to grant an administrative land permit for a separate development project in Seongnam’s Baekhyeon-dong district, during a parliamentary session in October 2021.

Lee ran unsuccessfully against President Yoon Suk Yeol in the March 2022 presidential election.

The opposition leader has consistently denied the charges, accusing prosecutors of fabricating politically motivated investigations.

The upcoming sentencing will mark the first court ruling in the seven cases for which Lee is standing trial, including bribery and o
ther charges related to the development scandal.

Source: Yonhap News Agency