Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was summoned as a witness in the private developers' breach of trust trial on the 28th but did not attend, resulting in an additional fine of 5 million won imposed by the court. This was the third time he did not appear after the hearings on the 21st and the 24th.
The court has scheduled the witness questioning of Lee for the 31st, as well as for the 7th and 14th of next month. The court noted, "Since he has not appeared for the third time now, we will discuss the next steps after hearing from him on the 31st."
On this day, the Criminal Division 22 of the Seoul Central District Court (headed by Director General Cho Hyung-woo) decided to impose a fine of 5 million won on Lee, who was absent as a witness in the trial regarding the breach of trust charges against major private developers, including Kim Man-bae, the major stakeholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and former Seongnam Urban Development Corporation Planning Director Yu Dong-kyu.
As the scheduled witness questioning of Lee became impossible due to his absence, the trial concluded in just 9 minutes.
The court previously selected Lee as a witness at the request of the prosecution. However, Lee submitted a notice of absence to the court, citing his legislative activities and other trials as reasons, and did not appear as a witness on the 21st and 24th.
As a result, the court had already imposed a fine of 3 million won on Lee on the 24th.
According to the Criminal Procedure Act, a witness who fails to appear without justifiable reasons after receiving a summons may be fined up to 5 million won. If a witness receives a fine and again fails to appear without justifiable reasons, they may be detained for up to 7 days. Coercive arrest is also possible.
Meanwhile, the private developers of Daejang-dong have been brought to trial on charges of causing 489.5 billion won in damages to the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation related to the Daejang-dong development project conducted during Lee's tenure as Seongnam mayor.
Lee is also facing a separate trial in the Criminal Division 33 of the Central District Court (led by Director General Lee Jin-gwan) along with Jung Jin-sang, the former head of the party's political coordination office, on charges of causing damages to the corporation by approving a favorable structure for the Daejang-dong development project while serving as mayor.