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Court grants bail to opposition leader’s key aide

April 21, 2023

A key aide to opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was arrested about five months ago over alleged bribery charges, was granted bail Friday.

The Seoul Central District Court approved the bail application by Jeong Jin-sang, a former vice chief of staff to Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee, on condition that he pays a deposit of 50 million won (US$37,600), abstains from direct or indirect contacts with people involved in his cases and trials, and wears a location tracking device.

Jeong Jin-sang, a former vice chief of staff to Democratic Party Chairman Lee Jae-myung (Yonhap)
Jeong Jin-sang, a former vice chief of staff to Democratic Party Chairman Lee Jae-myung (Yonhap)

Jeong, also known as the DP chief’s “right-hand man,” was arrested Nov. 19 last year and indicted the following month on charges of taking about 240 million won from real estate developers of Seongnam, just south of Seoul, between 2013 and 2020 in return for business favors for a development project launched when Lee was the city’s mayor. In return, Jeong was also suspected of being promised a 24.5 percent stake worth 42.8 billion won in the land development project.

The court trial for Jeong began in January. He has denied all the charges against him.