Appellate court overturns DP chief Lee's conviction on election law charges

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Appellate court overturns DP chief Lee's conviction on election law charges

Published: 26 Mar. 2025, 15:37 Updated: 26 Mar. 2025, 19:23

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, center, speaks to reporters at the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 26, after the court acquitted him on all counts of lying during his last presidential campaign. [YONHAP]

The Seoul High Court on Wednesday acquitted Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung of lying during his last presidential campaign, completely overturning a one-year suspended prison sentence handed to him by a lower court on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

The court’s decision significantly relieves pressure on Lee to stand down as a contender in the potentially early presidential election that would be triggered if the Constitutional Court rules to uphold the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Individuals who are handed a prison sentence of any length for violations of the country’s election law are barred from running for office for 10 years.

In his first comments to reporters after the ruling was announced, Lee thanked the Seoul High Court for its “correct decision,” which he said represented a “victory for justice and truth.”

He also called on the prosecution to abandon its efforts to convict him and criticized the Yoon administration for “hunting” him instead of focusing its energies on other matters, such as improving people’s livelihoods and taming the wildfire ravaging the country’s southeastern region.

Lee, who previously served as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi, was accused by prosecutors of lying in a 2021 media interview when he stated that he did not know Kim Moon-ki, a former Seongnam Development Corporation executive who died by suicide while being investigated for his involvement in a development corruption scandal.

Supporters of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung celebrate outside the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 26, after the court acquitted him on all counts of lying during his last presidential campaign. [NEWS1]

He claimed that a photo of him with Kim and just two others during a 2015 business trip to Australia and New Zealand was “fabricated” to make them appear better acquainted than they actually were.

Lee was also accused of lying during a 2021 audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government, claiming that the Land Ministry forced him to rezone the former site of the Korea Food Research Institute in Seongnam. The site was later developed into apartment complexes by a private developer, leading to allegations that Lee rezoned the land as a favor to the company.

Prosecutors alleged Lee’s comments violated the Public Official Election Act, which forbids political candidates from propagating falsehoods while running for office.

The law is intended to protect the public’s right to accurate information on a candidate’s past record.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in November that both of Lee’s comments were factually untrue, but also that only the latter remark could be considered a violation of the election law.

In contrast, the Seoul High Court ruled that Lee’s remarks about not knowing Kim could not be construed as a false denial of having socially interacted with him.

The court accepted Lee’s argument that his photo with Kim could be seen as a fabrication because it was cropped from a larger group photo of 10 people taken during the trip.

The 2015 photo of then-Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, right, with the late Kim Moon-ki, left, that was taken during a business trip to Australia and New Zealand. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Crucially, the court also decided that Lee’s remarks at the audit were not inaccurate because the Land Ministry sent the Seongnam city government three notices urging it to rezone the land.

As such, the court found that the DP leader’s comments about having been forced to rezone the site did not misrepresent the city’s exchanges with the ministry.

It also deemed that these remarks had little impact on the 2022 presidential election.

In past rulings on violations of the Public Official Election Act, judges set sentences based on whether a falsehood was deliberate, widely propagated, intended to deceive voters and serious enough that it could influence the outcome of an election.

The conservative People Power Party (PPP), which up until Wednesday appeared confident that the appellate court would uphold the DP leader’s conviction, expressed shock and disappointment that it acquitted him instead.

Rep. Kwon Young-se, the interim leader of the conservative People Power Party, speaks to reporters at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on March 26. [NEWS1]

PPP interim leader Rep. Kwon Young-se told reporters at the National Assembly he regards the ruling with “deep regret” and said he hopes that “justice would be swiftly restored” by the Supreme Court if the prosecution appeals.

PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong said he “could not understand the decision” given that “so many other politicians have had their careers cut short after they were convicted of making false remarks.”

He called on the Supreme Court to decide whether or not Lee lied during his last campaign to “bring an end to the controversy.”

He also said he was “confident” that the Supreme Court “will vacate the [Seoul High Court’s] ruling and remand the case.”

Although Wednesday’s ruling is a victory for Lee and the DP, it does not mean he is in the clear just yet.

Prosecutors said the same day that they would appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

Under trial scheduling guidelines, the Supreme Court should issue a final ruling within three months.

But the longer the Constitutional Court delays its ruling on Yoon’s impeachment, the higher the odds that the Supreme Court would issue its decision on Lee’s case close to the date of the yet-hypothetical presidential election.

Lee also still faces four other indictments, two of which have also gone to trial.

Update, March 26: Lee's comments after the ruling added.
Update, March 26: Background information on the Public Official Election Act and the PPP's reaction added.
Update, March 26: Prosecution's decision to appeal added.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]