SEOUL: The Seoul High Court on Wednesday (March 26) acquitted Lee Jae-myung (pic) of violating the Public Official Election Act, paving the way for the main opposition leader to consolidate his leadership in the liberal bloc.
The appellate court Wednesday overturned the lower court decision in November that had handed down a suspended one-year prison term to the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which holds the majority of seats at the parliament.
With the appellate court decision clearing Lee of charges, he is now considered the top presidential front-runner should an early presidential election take place in the event that suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment for leading an alleged self-coup in December is finalised.
Lee was accused of making a false statement during a parliamentary audit in October 2021 over the rezoning of land in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province and denying the fact in a media interview in December 2021 that he had personal ties with a figure at the center of a land corruption scandal that Lee is also suspected to have been involved in.
Under the Election Act, those who publish false information with the intent to get elected to public office face punishment of up to five years in prison.
Ahead of the ruling, the Democratic Party claimed Tuesday that Lee's accusations are based on the "fabricated" evidence. It argued that the prosecution had "arbitrarily interpreted" Lee's remarks to use them as evidence against Lee.
Lee formerly served as Seongnam mayor from 2010 to 2018 and as the Gyeonggi Province governor between 2018 to 2021. He was the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the 2022 election, where he lost to Yoon by a razor-thin margin of 0.73 percentage points. - The Korea Herald/ANN
