Lee Hwa-young Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison for 'Salmon and Alcohol Party' Perjury

[Anchor]

Lee Hwa-young, former Vice Governor of Gyeonggi Province, has been sentenced to four months in prison in his first trial for perjury. Lee had claimed that prosecutors offered him salmon and alcohol to coerce his testimony during the investigation. This marks the judiciary's first ruling regarding the so-called "salmon and alcohol party" allegations. The court determined that Lee's statements lacked consistency and credibility.

Reporter Shin Yong-il has the story.

[Reporter]

In October 2024, Lee Hwa-young, former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, appeared as a witness at a parliamentary impeachment hearing for Prosecutor Park Sang-yong and raised the "salmon and alcohol party" allegations.

He claimed that during the investigation into the North Korea remittance case in May 2023, Prosecutor Park attempted to coerce his testimony to establish a link to then-Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung by providing him with salmon and alcohol.

[Lee Hwa-young / Former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province (October 2024): Prosecutor Park Sang-yong said, 'Let's have a party. It's all done now.' So we had a party, and he brought alcohol. That day, there was sashimi rice, salmon, various fruits, and even soju.]

In response, the prosecution indicted Lee for perjury, asserting that his claim about being provided with alcohol was false.

Following a jury trial, the court found Lee guilty of perjury and sentenced him to four months in prison.

This is the first judicial ruling issued approximately one year and eight months after the allegations were publicly raised.

While the seven-member jury was split with a 4-3 verdict, the court ruled for a conviction, stating, "The statements of other individuals involved in the prosecutor's office are consistent or mutually corroborating, whereas Lee's statements lack consistency and are therefore low in credibility."

However, the court accepted the jury's unanimous opinion and acquitted Lee of charges related to violating the Political Funds Act, which alleged that he conspired with former Ssangbangwool Chairman Kim Sung-tae to direct "split donations" to then-Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Lee Jae-myung.

Regarding the charges of abuse of power related to North Korean sapling support, the court dismissed the indictment, ruling that the prosecution had abused its power of indictment.

In response, Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, the subject of the allegations, expressed his gratitude on social media for the jury's wise decision, while Lee's side stated they would appeal, maintaining that the essence of the case was the coercion of testimony.

(Reported by Jang Woon-seok | Video by Jung Yong-hwa | Graphics by Kang Yoon-jung | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.