Ewhayoung Lee Appeals First Trial Verdict on "Salmon Drinking Party Perjury," Limiting Appeal to Perjury Conviction

Decision to Accept Dismissal of Abuse of Authority Charge

The legal team representing Ewhayoung Lee, former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, who was sentenced to four months in prison in the first trial on charges including perjury before the National Assembly after raising allegations about a "salmon drinking party," has decided to file an appeal.

Ewhayoung Lee, Former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

On June 22, Lee's legal team announced that they would submit a notice of appeal to the 11th Criminal Division of Suwon District Court, which presided over the first trial. The scope of the appeal is limited to the charge of perjury under the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly, for which a guilty verdict was rendered in the first trial. They will not appeal the court's decision to dismiss, ex officio, the charge of abuse of authority related to aid to North Korea.

The defense plans to argue for acquittal, citing factual errors, misapplication of legal principles, and the unfairness of the sentence as grounds for appeal.

The defense team was initially reported to have considered seeking a complete substantive acquittal on the abuse of authority charge and related allegations through the appellate trial. However, they ultimately decided to accept the first trial’s decision, judging that the court’s move to curb the prosecution’s practice of "splitting and filing separate indictments" carries significant meaning from a judicial standpoint.

The 11th Criminal Division of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Song Byunghoon) on June 20 sentenced Lee to prison after finding him guilty of perjury through a jury trial. The court accepted the majority opinion of the jurors, stating, "The defendant's testimony lacked consistency and therefore was not credible."

On the other hand, the court acquitted Lee of violating the Political Funds Act, accepting the jury’s unanimous not-guilty verdict. Regarding the charge of abuse of authority and similar allegations, the court pointed out that the prosecution’s approach constituted "abuse of prosecutorial power" and dismissed the charges ex officio.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.