Home > National > Politics

Prosecutors appeal acquittal of DP chief

Published: 27 Mar. 2025, 19:15

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the liberal Democratic Party, walks out of the Seoul High Court in Seoul on March 26, after the court overturned a suspended prison term for lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election, acquitting him of the charge. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors on Thursday appealed the acquittal of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, to the Supreme Court, following the overturning of a suspended prison sentence by a high court the day before.

On Wednesday, the Seoul High Court acquitted Lee of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election, removing a major legal hurdle for the politician widely considered the liberal presidential front-runner.

The suspended prison term, if upheld, would have stripped him of his parliamentary seat and barred him from running in the next presidential election.

The former governor of Gyeonggi is widely expected to run in a snap presidential election in the event that the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, which would trigger an election within 60 days.

During the initial trial, the opposition leader was found guilty of 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 controversial development project in Seongnam when Lee was the city's mayor.

Yonhap