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[global times comprehensive report] according to the korea herald on the 20th, the seoul central district court held the last hearing on the case of lee jae-myung, the leader of the largest opposition party, the democratic party of korea, suspected of violating the public office election act. the prosecutor proposed to the court to sentence lee jae-myungimprisonmentthe seoul central district court will pronounce the verdict on the case on november 15th, with a sentence of two years in prison.

south korean prosecutors said lee jae-myung lied to the entire nation many times during the 20th presidential election in an attempt to be elected president, and these false statements "had a significant impact on the voters' choices", making this matter particularly serious. prosecutors stressed that anyone who distorts the voters' choices with lies, regardless of their status or position, must be severely punished in order to "maintain the fairness of the election and the constitutional values ​​of democracy."

the korea herald stated that lee jae-myung was suspected of claiming that he did not know the late former director of the development division of seongnam urban development corporation, kim, during an interview on a radio program as the presidential candidate of the democratic party on december 22, 2021. this was deemed a false fact by the prosecution and he was prosecuted without detention by the prosecution in september 2022. in addition, the prosecution determined that he gave a false answer to a question about the change of use of a place in baekhyeon-dong during the national assembly's land, infrastructure and transport committee's national audit of gyeonggi province in october 2021.

lee jae-myung called the prosecution's charges "pure fabrication" and insisted that he was innocent. the korea herald said that as the first of the four legal proceedings lee jae-myung is currently facing, the trial outcome is of great significance, not only affecting his political future, but also reshaping south korea's political landscape. if lee jae-myung is eventually sentenced to prison, he will lose his membership in parliament and be deprived of the right to be elected for the next five years, which will prevent him from participating in the 2027 presidential election. in addition, he may face a fine of up to 30 million won (about 160,000 yuan). (xiao tong)