Korean former professional baseball player given suspended sentence in second trial for perjury, ”I didn't know it was a banned drug” (Korea)

South Korean professional baseball players Song Seung-jun and Kim Sayul, who were found guilty of perjury in the first trial, were given suspended prison sentences in the second trial.
On the 12th, the Busan Regional Criminal Court, Division 3-2 (Judge Lee Seo Yeon) announced that Mr. Song, who was indicted on charges of perjury,
The two were given six-month prison sentences suspended for one year, the same as the first trial. On July 12, 2021, Mr. Song and others filed charges of perjury in a trial against professional baseball player Mr. A and weight trainer Mr. B.
A was handed over to the court on suspicion of conspiring with B to sell a drug called growth hormone injections, receiving 16 million won (approximately 1.77 million yen) from Song and others in March 2017.
He was indicted on suspicion of violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. However, the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act does not have provisions for punishing drug buyers, so Mr. Song and others were not handed over to trial at the time.
Mr. Song and others appeared as witnesses in the trial of Mr. A and others, and when asked, "Did you know that Mr. A was taking growth hormone?" they answered, "
"I heard from B that it was a growth hormone, and that it was safe for doping because it could not be detected in urine 8 to 12 hours after administration," testified A.
"I asked Mr. Song and others if they were okay and if there was any doping that could be detected," he said.
Based on the testimony of Mr. A, the first trial court ruled that "the part where (Mr. Song and others) testified that they had never heard of growth hormone and did not know whether it was a prohibited substance was out of the scope of the investigation."
"Considering the statements made by the investigating agencies and other sources, we have no choice but to conclude that the testimony was false," the second trial court said.
While stating that "the defendant must deny the allegations and impose severe punishment," the court also ruled that "it was taken into consideration that the false testimony would not affect the outcome of the trial for violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and that the defendant had no criminal record."
Prior to this, Jisung was found guilty of using the growth hormone Agentrop, which is a banned substance by the Korea Anti-Doping Agency (KADA) in March 2017.
In May 2021, Son was found to have violated Article 2, Clause 6 of the Professional Sports Anti-Doping Regulations by possessing a licence.
He was given a 72-game suspension, which is equivalent to 50% of his sentence. Son maintained his innocence and appealed to the KADA Appeals Committee, but the appeal was rejected, and he retired from the Lotte Giants in October of the same year.
Kim, who held the NBA title, retired from his team, KT Wiz, in 2019.