Lee's Side: "Violation of the Principle of Clarity in Legal Elements"
Kwon Seongdong: "Intends to Cover Up Crimes Through the Election"
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 5th while attending the appeal trial for charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, "The trial will not be delayed and will conclude swiftly."
Lee made these remarks to the press as he appeared at the second hearing of the appeal trial for charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, held in the Criminal Division 6-2 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Choi Eun-jung, Lee Ye-seul, Jeong Jae-oh) in the afternoon. The day before, Lee had filed a request for a constitutional review regarding the provisions of the Public Official Election Act applied to him.
A constitutional review is a system that examines whether a law complies with the constitution, and if it is judged to be unconstitutional, the law loses its effect. It is one of the core functions of constitutional adjudication to protect against arbitrary legislation by the legislative branch. If the court decides to request a constitutional review, the Constitutional Court receives the case and initiates the review process, and the related trial is suspended until the Constitutional Court's decision is made.
Lee's side argues that Article 250, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act, which stipulates punishment for false statements made for the purpose of election, is unconstitutional. Article 250, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act states, "If false facts regarding birthplace, family relations, occupation, career, etc., are publicly announced by speech, broadcast, newspaper, or other methods for the purpose of election, the offender shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won."
Earlier, on November last year, the first trial court sentenced Lee to one year imprisonment with two years probation, which included disqualification from candidacy, for violating the Public Official Election Act. The court found him partially guilty regarding his statement "I did not know the late Kim Moon-gi, former head of Development Division 1 at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation," and recognized guilt for false statements related to Baekhyeon-dong. Lee's side argued that the elements of the provision violate the principle of clarity and the principle of proportionality, infringing on freedom of expression.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the continuation of the second trial for the violation of the Public Official Election Act held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 5th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo
They also rebutted the ruling party's criticism that the request for constitutional review is a strategy to delay the trial. Lee Geon-tae, legal spokesperson for the Democratic Party, emphasized, "The case requesting constitutional review is assigned a separate case number (Public Official Election Act case number 2024No3692, constitutional review request case number 2025Initial79) and proceeds separately from the main trial, so it does not delay the main trial and cannot cause delay."
Despite the Democratic Party's claims, the People Power Party criticized Lee's request for constitutional review as a tactic to buy time ahead of the early presidential election. Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, wrote on Facebook that "If by any chance the court accepts the request for constitutional review, the trial will be suspended until the Constitutional Court's decision is made," adding, "He intends to indefinitely delay his trial and cover up his crimes with the election if an early presidential election occurs during that time."
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also pointed out, "This is a consistent 'delay = survival' formula shown in various cases such as Daejang-dong and North Korea remittances," and said, "Seeing him bring up a baseless and pointless constitutional review request right after pretending to be pragmatic, it ultimately appears that everything is intended to delay the trial."
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