President Lee Publicly Criticizes Supreme Court Pending 'Kim Yong Case' Ruling: "Hard to Understand Guilty Verdict Despite Proven Alibi"

"Evidence for Guilt Must Be Held to a Higher Standard Than Evidence for Innocence"
President Shares Lee Geontae's Call for a Special Prosecutor Over Prosecution's Double Standard

President Lee Jae-myung on July 15 publicly criticized both the prosecution’s indictment and the appellate court’s conviction in the case of Kim Yong, former deputy director of the Institute for Democracy, who is currently undergoing a Supreme Court trial on charges of illegal political funds.

President Lee Jae-myung is asking questions to the heads of attending agencies during the ministerial work report held at the Blue House's main reception hall on July 15, 2026. Photo by Blue House Press Photographers Group, Yonhap News Agency

On the same day, President Lee posted on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "It is truly difficult to understand how the Google Timeline, which has been used in court as evidence of guilt, can, in certain cases, not be accepted as evidence of innocence. Even when the Google Timeline proves an alibi, indicting and convicting someone is a bizarre conclusion that is hard to accept."

President Lee stressed, "Evidence used to prove guilt must possess much stricter evidentiary power and credibility than evidence used to prove innocence," adding, "Proof of crime must leave no room for reasonable doubt, and in cases of uncertainty, judgment should be made in favor of the defendant."

He went on to say, "Even if ten criminals go free, a single innocent person should never be punished," emphasizing, "This is the most basic and important principle, and the very first thing taught when studying criminal procedure law."

Following this, President Lee shared a post by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Geontae titled "The prosecution’s double standard on Google Timeline must be revealed through a special investigation."

Lawmaker Lee referenced the results of the forensic investigation in the case involving former deputy director Kim, arguing, "Google Timeline raw data cannot be arbitrarily altered or deleted, and the findings indicate that it cannot be concluded Kim was at the time and place specified by the prosecution in their indictment."

He continued, "In the Park Geun-hye government corruption case, the prosecution relied on Google Timeline as key evidence, but when adverse evidence emerged in former deputy director Kim’s case, they dismissed its scientific validity and objectivity. What has changed is not the evidence, but the prosecution’s standards." Lawmaker Lee asserted, "The real issue is not the Google Timeline, but the prosecution’s double standards," urging a special investigation.

Former deputy director Kim was indicted on charges of colluding with individuals including Yoo Dongkyu, former head of planning at Seongnam Development Corporation, to receive illegal political funds from attorney Nam Wook before and after the Democratic Party’s presidential primary in 2021. The first and second trial courts each sentenced Kim to five years in prison, and the case is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Kim was released in August 2025 after being granted bail by the Supreme Court.

During the appellate trial, Kim’s side argued, citing Google Timeline data, that Kim did not go to the offices of Yuwon Holdings on May 3, 2021, the date prosecutors alleged he first received funds.

However, the appellate panel found that the operating principles of the Google Timeline were not disclosed and its accuracy and integrity could not be sufficiently verified, concluding that "its probative value is very low." The panel also pointed to inconsistencies between some location data and actual movements, as well as indications that records for other dates had been edited.

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