Former Army Commander Lee Jin-Woo Charged with Perjury: What It Means for South Korea’s Political Landscape

Police have referred former Army Capital Defense Command commander Lee Jin-woo’s perjury case to prosecutors.

On the 12th, the National Police Agency’s Special Investigation Headquarters overseeing the three major special-prosecutor handover cases said it forwarded Lee to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on perjury charges without detaining him.

At the fifth session of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial on Feb. 4 last year, Lee testified as a witness and answered “No” when asked whether, during a deployment to the National Assembly, he had ever been ordered to block access to the main building or to instruct former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun or the president to prevent a vote to lift martial law.

A civic group subsequently filed a complaint with prosecutors, accusing Lee, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, former Military Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung, and former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min of perjury during the impeachment hearings.

Last month, police summoned Lee as a suspect to probe the circumstances of his testimony. Today they decided to refer the case to prosecutors.

Separately, Lee and former Commander Yeo have already been indicted and are awaiting trial on charges that they performed key roles in the Dec. 3 emergency martial law episode, allegations tied to serious insurrection-related offenses.