Jury Deliberations Begin in 'Salmon and Alcohol Party' Perjury Trial

[Anchor]

The jury trial for Lee Hwa-young, former Vice Governor of Gyeonggi Province for Peace, is set to conclude today, June 19. Lee, who is currently serving a seven-year and eight-month prison sentence for the Ssangbangwool Group's illegal North Korea remittance case, is now facing charges including perjury related to the so-called "prosecutor's office salmon and alcohol party." We go live to our reporter at the courthouse.

Reporter Yoo Soo-Hwan, when did the closing arguments conclude?

[Reporter]

The jury trial for former Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young, which began this morning, concluded its arguments about two hours ago.

The jury, composed of seven ordinary citizens, is currently in deliberations.

The verdict is expected to be reached around midnight.

The key issues in this trial are: first, whether there was "split-up" political funding for the campaign of then-Gyeonggi Governor and Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Lee Jae-myung, and whether the former vice governor was involved; second, whether the former vice governor abused his power to force working-level officials to perform duties they were not obligated to do during Gyeonggi Province's support projects for North Korea, such as providing tree saplings; and third, the most contentious issue, whether the so-called "prosecutor's office salmon and alcohol party" actually took place and whether the former vice governor committed perjury during a National Assembly hearing.

Earlier today, the prosecution presented its closing statement in the morning, followed by the defense team in the afternoon, both striving to persuade the jury.

[Anchor]

The prosecution has requested a prison sentence. What did the former vice governor say in his final statement?

[Reporter]

The prosecution argued that all charges against the former vice governor have been proven and requested a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 5 million won.

On the other hand, the former vice governor denied all charges in his final statement, repeatedly claiming that "the prosecution conducted an unreasonable investigation in their rush to build a case."

The court plans to deliver its first-instance ruling based on the jury's verdict.

However, the court is not legally bound to follow the jury's decision, so the final ruling may differ from the jury's judgment.

(On-site coverage: Seo Jin-ho | Video editing: Jung Yong-hwa)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.