Lee is the party's presidential candidate, and in opinion polls he is leading the polls as the most suitable person to be the next president, far ahead of other candidates. Lee was fined 100,000 yen before the presidential election.
If he had been sentenced to more than 100,000 won (about 100,000 yen), he would have been unable to run for office, but there is no longer any possibility that the sentence will be finalized before the election.
The trial was postponed to June 18. The Seoul High Court explained that this was to "guarantee the defendant, who is a presidential candidate, an equal opportunity to campaign and to eliminate concerns about the fairness of the trial."
Lee is accused of making false statements in 2021 when he was a presidential candidate in the last presidential election, regarding urban development he promoted while he was mayor of Seongnam, a suburb of Seoul.
He was charged with violating the Public Offices Election Act and given a one-year prison sentence and two-year suspended sentence in the first trial in November last year. However, both Lee and the prosecution appealed the sentence, and the Seoul High Court overturned the ruling in March this year.
After the prosecution appealed, the Supreme Court formed an all-judge panel to hear the case and began deliberations. The Supreme Court found some of Lee's statements to be "falsely true."
The Supreme Court ruled that the decision constituted a "publication of the truth." It overturned the ruling of the second instance and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for further review. On the 1st of this month, Lee told reporters, "This is a ruling that goes in a completely different direction from what I thought."
The Democratic Party of Korea strongly criticized the Supreme Court. Cho Shin-rye, the party's chief spokesman, said at a press conference, "The Supreme Court's ruling is a clear criticism of politics and a hasty trial. The Supreme Court's decision is a violation of the unjust presidential election.
"We will strongly denounce the interference," he said. At one point, there were calls within the party for the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae. A member of the party's National Assembly said, "The Democratic Party will go all out. We will use all the power we have.
Meanwhile, Kwon Young-se, head of emergency response for the ruling People Power Party, said on the 1st, "We need to put a stop to the unreasonable excuses given in the second trial and distort the judgment of the voters (
"The Supreme Court's decision to retract the remarks made in the past is a very common-sense decision," he said. "The ball is now back to the Democratic Party of Korea and candidate Lee Jae-myung. Elections must be held on the basis of trust.
"The Supreme Court has determined that Lee has distorted the public's judgment by publishing false facts. This in itself has already disqualified him from being a presidential candidate," he said, inviting the Democratic Party to nominate Lee as its official presidential candidate.
"It's time for politics to respond. If they insist on naming Lee as a presidential candidate despite such a harsh ruling, that in itself is a violation of the Constitution," Kwon said.
"This is a serious insult to the people. It would be common sense for a candidate to voluntarily withdraw from the race," he said. Korea's Public Office Election Act stipulates that if a candidate is fined more than 1 million won, their right to run for office will be restricted for five years.
The progress of the trial was closely watched as there was a possibility that Lee, who is considered the leading candidate for the next presidential term, would be unable to run in the upcoming presidential election.
Lee's side has filed an application with the court to postpone the trial until after the presidential election.
The reasons cited were Article 116 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech, and Article 11 of the Public Offices Election Act, which prohibits the arrest and detention of presidential candidates during their election campaigns.
The Seoul High Court is set to hold the first hearing of Lee's retrial on the 7th of this month, instead of the original date.
The date will be changed from the 15th of this month to June 18th after the presidential election. Regarding this announcement, the news agency Yonhap News said, "The voting date and campaign period for the presidential election have been decided, and Lee will be inaugurated on the 27th of last month.
"The court appears to have accepted Lee's request because he was selected as an official candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea on the same day."
The so-called "judicial risk" of a trial being scheduled after the election
On the 8th, after his resignation, Lee held a meeting with the heads of five economic organizations, including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to the public broadcaster KBS, Lee said, "The government will take the lead in the economy and industry.
"The era is over," he said, emphasizing the role of companies and government support. In addition, to coincide with Parents' Day on the 8th, Lee also announced a "Senior Pledge" aimed at ensuring stability in the lives of the elderly.
The Democratic Party of Korea has temporarily postponed impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho and others, which some within the party have called for, but has decided to postpone impeachment of Cho, citing a desire to investigate allegations of Supreme Court interference in the presidential election.
The Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said in an editorial on the 7th that "If a political party is going to threaten impeachment against judges who make unfavorable rulings and deny the separation of powers, it should change its name to '
It should be changed to a 'dictatorship party'."
2025/05/09 11:35 KST
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