Supreme Court overturns DP presidential candidate’s acquittal in election law violation case

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a lower court’s acquittal of Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on charges of election law violation, sending the case back to the appeals court.

In a televised decision, the top court overturned the Seoul High Court’s verdict in March, which acquitted Lee of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election campaign.

The Supreme Court’s decision came about a month before the country will hold the June 3 presidential election. The top court has deliberated on the case in an unexpectedly swift manner, given that a final ruling could affect Lee’s eligibility to run for office.

Lee is widely considered a front-runner for the upcoming election as he is leading opinion polls by a wide margin.

By law, those who receive a fine of 1 million won (US$700) or more for violating the election law are restricted from running for office for five years.

Lee has been indicted for lying during a media interview in December 2021 that he did not play golf with the late Kim Moon-ki, a former executive of Seongnam Development Corp., which was behind a corruption-ridden development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, when Lee was the city’s mayor.

Lee also faces charges of lying during a parliamentary audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government in October 2021 that he was under pressure from the land ministry to rezone the former site of the Korea Food Research Institute in Seongnam.

In March, the Seoul High Court overturned a lower court ruling that found him guilty and sentenced him to a suspended prison term, saying that his remarks did not qualify as false statements.

But the Supreme Court said the appeals court “misunderstood” the legal principles regarding the false statements, determining that Lee’s remarks related to golf and pressure from the land ministry constitute the dissemination of false information under the election law.

With the top court’s decision, the Seoul High Court should review the case for a retrial. There is a slim possibility that legal procedures for a final sentencing will be completed by the election date, but controversy over Lee’s eligibility to run for presidency is expected to continue.

After the court’s decision, Lee immediately expressed disappointment.

“It is a ruling that is in a completely different direction than what I thought,” Lee told reporters after the ruling. “The law is an agreement by the people, and the will of the people is what is most important.”

When asked about calls from political opponents for him to step down from presidential candidacy, Lee said politics is ultimately up to the people, adding that he would follow the “will of the people.”

The DP announced it will stand by its presidential hopeful. The party criticized the verdict as a “politically motivated ruling” and dismissed the possibility of replacing the candidate.

“Lee is the DP’s presidential candidate elected through our primary, in which our party members and Korean nationals participated,” DP spokesperson Jo Seoung-lae said. “We will not be swayed by any judicial attempts to upset our candidate.”

Meanwhile, the conservative People Power Party (PPP) called for Lee’s immediate resignation.

“It is a grave insult to the people to continue backing a presidential candidate even after the verdict was handed down,” the PPP’s interim leader Kwon Young-se said. “The DP should replace its candidate as soon as possible if it is a responsible party.”