Presiding Judge Lee Jaegwon Known for "Modest Style"
Court to Set Trial Date and Notify Parties of Proceedings
The retrial on remand for Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of violating the Public Official Election Act, has been assigned to the Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul High Court. This assignment and the transfer of case records took place swiftly, just one day after the Supreme Court's Grand Bench overturned the acquittal verdict of the appellate court and remanded the case for a guilty verdict.
Lee Jae Myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is accused of embezzlement in the Daejangdong case and bribery related to Seongnam FC, is attending a trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on April 29, 2025. Photo by Kang Jinhyung
On May 2, the Seoul High Court assigned Lee's retrial on remand for the Public Official Election Act case to the election-specialized Criminal Division 7 (Chief Judge Lee Jaegwon). The presiding judge is Chief Judge Lee Jaegwon of the High Court, and the main judge is Judge Song Mikyung of the High Court.
This comes only one day after the Supreme Court's Grand Bench overturned the appellate court's acquittal verdict for Lee and remanded the case for a guilty verdict on May 1. The Criminal Division 7 is also the alternate division for the Criminal Division 6, which previously handled the case.
With the assignment completed, the court is expected to soon set a trial date and notify the parties to appear in court. If the notice of the trial date is not delivered to the parties, the court must reschedule the hearing. If delivery to the parties is not completed, the trial proceedings cannot officially begin.
A retrial on remand involves reviewing the case anew after the previous verdict has been annulled, and a new case number is assigned. However, since the retrial continues from the previous proceedings, the hearing sessions will proceed as a continuation of the appellate trial before the remand.
Chief Judge Lee Jaegwon of the High Court graduated from Jeju Jeil High School and the Department of Law at Seoul National University as part of the 23rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He began his judicial career as a judge at the Seoul District Court, served as a judicial policy research officer at the National Court Administration during Chief Justice Lee Yonghoon's tenure, and worked as chief judge in the Secretariat during Chief Justice Yang Seungtae's term. During Chief Justice Kim Myeongsu's tenure, he chaired a subcommittee of the Judicial Administration Advisory Council, which was established by the Supreme Court to decentralize judicial administrative power and promote court reform. He has also served as a judge at the Seoul Administrative Court, presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court, and presiding judge at the Suwon High Court. He is known for his modest character and calm demeanor, and is regarded as conducting trials meticulously.
Meanwhile, Lee was indicted on charges of spreading false information after appearing on a broadcast in December 2021 as a presidential candidate and stating that he did not know Director Kim Moonki, and for claiming during a parliamentary audit that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had threatened the city of Seongnam during the process of changing the land use designation of the Baekhyeon-dong site of the Korea Food Research Institute.
The first trial found Lee guilty and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years, but the appellate court acquitted him, ruling that his statements could not be punished. However, on May 1, the Supreme Court's Grand Bench remanded the case to the Seoul High Court for a guilty verdict. Since Supreme Court decisions are binding on lower courts, the retrial on remand will determine Lee's sentence based on a guilty verdict.
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