The trial of Unified Progressive Party lawmaker Lee Seok Ki opened at 2PM on November 12th at Suwon District Court in Suwon, south of Seoul. The charge against Lee, conspiring to stage a rebellion, is the first of its type to come to trial since 1980.
A total of seven defendants, including Lee, appeared before the judge this afternoon. Lee’s legal team, which includes UPP head Lee Jung Hee and her husband Sim Jae Hwan, both of whom are trained lawyers, is expected to argue that Lee did not form an “RO,” or Revolutionary Organization, and that the claim that he and the six others planned to overthrow the South Korean state is a fabrication.
Today’s court session was expected to last for four hours and thirty minutes, during which Lee was to give testimony for approximately thirty minutes. Given that Lee exercised his right to silence during the police and National Intelligence Service (NIS) investigation that followed his arrest, his testimony is bound to be a source of great interest.
One of the most important and controversial factors in the trial centers on whether the court will allow a recording submitted by the NIS to be used as evidence. The recording was made by an informant from within the alleged RO and passed to the intelligence services, and contains audio evidence of the group’s allegedly seditious plans.
Lee’s legal team claims that the informant was given the recording equipment by the NIS, and therefore the file is inadmissible as evidence, whereas the NIS is set to declare that the informant made the recording independently.
800 police officers were stationed around the court today to forestall clashes. Conservative groups gathered in front of the court from early this morning to protest Lee and the Unified Progressive Party.
