[Bar Association President Election] Election Commission "Candidate Kim Young-hoon Violated Publicity Material Regulations"… Request to Stop and Public Notice Sanctions

From the left, lawyers Kim Young-hoon, Ahn Byung-hee, and Park Jong-heun, candidates for the 52nd President of the Korean Bar Association election. Photo by each candidate's office.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] As the election for the 52nd President of the Korean Bar Association (KBA) becomes increasingly chaotic with mutual slander and expos?s from each camp, the KBA Election Commission has ruled that candidate Kim Young-hoon's second election leaflet violates the "Regulations on the Implementation of the President and Delegate Election Rules" and has imposed sanctions.

However, criticism has arisen that the Election Commission's decision to allow Kim's election leaflet to be sent without prior sanctions, only to impose penalties after receiving a request from candidate Ahn Byung-hee to halt its distribution, is unfair?especially since the Commission had previously required the deletion of two pages from Ahn's first election leaflet for similar reasons before allowing its distribution.

On the 6th, the KBA Election Commission responded to inquiries and a request to stop the distribution raised by Ahn's camp regarding Kim's second election leaflet, stating, "The Election Commission has determined that certain content in candidate Kim Young-hoon's second election leaflet violates Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the Election Rules Implementation Regulations."

Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the Election Rules Implementation Regulations includes a provision that "matters concerning other candidates shall not be included in election leaflets."

However, Kim's second election leaflet contains content related to candidate Ahn across two pages, including phrases such as "Responding to Ahn Byung-hee's false agitation and fabrication" and "Is Ahn Byung-hee qualified?"

Furthermore, the Election Commission stated, "Regarding the parts of the second election leaflet that mention other candidates, if these are posted on the internet, bulletin board chat rooms, or similar platforms via information and communication networks, or sent via email or text messages, those parts must be deleted. We have decided to impose both the suspension request sanction under Article 32, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 of the Election Rules and the sanction of notifying voters of the violation and sanction details under Article 32, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Election Rules."

Article 32, Paragraph 1 of the Election Rules lists sanctions for those who violate the rules, including ▲ oral or written suspension requests or warnings (Subparagraph 1), ▲ notification to voters of the violation and sanction details (Subparagraph 2), ▲ posting violation and sanction details at each polling station on election day (Subparagraph 3), and ▲ requesting disciplinary action from the disciplinary authority (Subparagraph 4). Sanctions from Subparagraphs 1 to 4 can be imposed concurrently according to Paragraph 2 of the same article.

Meanwhile, despite this decision by the Election Commission, there are criticisms that the response is not equitable compared to the earlier case involving candidate Ahn.

Previously, the Election Commission requested modifications and deletions before distribution of Ahn's first election leaflet, which contained facts about current KBA executive members self-assigning fees by handling lawsuits against the KBA's Lotoc and media outlets critical of the KBA, as well as Seoul Bar Association executives receiving base salaries ranging from 3 million KRW to 9 million KRW for the president, with additional expense limits raised from 3 million KRW to 5 million KRW. The Commission cited violations of election rules prohibiting acts that damage the honor and dignity of lawyer organizations and the implementation regulations forbidding inclusion of matters concerning other candidates in election leaflets.

Although Ahn's camp revised some content following the Commission's remarks, the Commission demanded the deletion of two entire pages out of the 12-page leaflet and warned that if a revised draft reflecting the Commission's demands was not submitted by the deadline, the entire first leaflet would not be distributed.

Ultimately, Ahn had to delete the contested pages and replace them with black pages to meet the distribution schedule for the first leaflet.

However, Kim's second election leaflet, which contains content about Ahn spanning two full pages, was distributed without any sanctions from the Election Commission.

Regarding this, the Election Commission responded to Ahn's inquiry about whether it neglected its duty under Article 27, Subparagraph 5 of the Election Rules?namely, "reporting and supervising violations of restrictions and prohibitions on election campaigning"?by stating, "The Election Commission must respect the intent of the court's injunction decision concerning the review of election leaflets, and accordingly, the review method may be adjusted." This is interpreted as following the court's decision rather than discriminating between the two candidates.

The Commission added, "Please understand that the Election Commission's review of election leaflets is a preliminary procedure to check for rule violations. If violations are recognized after the leaflets have been sent, strict sanctions are discussed and imposed accordingly."

Previously, Ahn filed an injunction with the court requesting that the revised first leaflet be allowed to be sent as is starting from the second leaflet distribution.

The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 51 (Presiding Judge Jeon Bo-seong), which heard Ahn's injunction case, ruled on December 20 last year that the Election Commission's measures against Ahn's election leaflet violated Ahn's political expression and election campaigning freedoms, as well as the right of KBA members to know. The court ordered, "The debtor (KBA) must send the leaflet submitted by the creditor (Ahn Byung-hee) together with the second election leaflet scheduled for distribution on December 23."

Although the Election Commission maintains that its actions were in line with the court's decision, criticism has emerged from Ahn's camp and some lawyers that the Commission is effectively favoring Kim Young-hoon, who is the current KBA Vice President and positions himself as the successor to the current KBA executive team.

Notably, immediately after the second leaflet distribution, on December 29 last year, Ahn's camp sent a request to the Election Commission to halt the distribution of Kim's leaflet along with an inquiry letter. However, the Commission delayed its response, holding a meeting on the afternoon of January 2 to discuss the issue and postponing the issuance of a decision document citing the need for careful preparation. The Commission only sent a reply letter to Ahn's camp on the day of the election, ten days before voting.

Although the Election Commission belatedly ruled that Kim's election leaflet violated internal regulations, the leaflet had already been sent to eligible voters?lawyers?via mail and email between December 27 and 28 last year, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the Commission's sanctions.

The KBA presidential election will hold early voting on January 13 and the main vote on January 16.