Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has filed a request for a constitutional review regarding the Public Official Election Act violation case ahead of his appeal trial. He has asked for a judgment on whether the legal provisions related to the case are unconstitutional.
According to the legal community on the 22nd, Lee submitted an application for a constitutional review concerning Article 250, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act to the 6-2 Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court, which is handling the election law case. Previously, Lee was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial related to the violation of the election law. If a sentence of a fine of 1 million won or more is confirmed, the right to run for office will be revoked.
There is an analysis that this move is a strategy to delay the trial by challenging the constitutionality of the law. In the context of a possible early presidential election, if a heavy sentence is issued again in the second trial, it would be a fatal blow.
Lee is accused of violating Article 250, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act, which stipulates, “If false information is announced with the purpose of being elected, a person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or be fined not more than 30 million won.” It is understood that Lee is pointing out that this provision excessively restricts political activities and freedom of expression.
A constitutional review is a system where the court requests the Constitutional Court to make a judgment on the constitutionality of a law when the constitutionality becomes a premise of the trial, either by the court’s own authority or at the party’s request.
[Reporter Choi Hee-seok]