Opposition leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung has evaded a major legal hurdle for the time being, with an appellate court overturning Lee's suspended jail sentence for his alleged false claims as a presidential candidate in the 2022 election.
In addition to the criminal case concerning the alleged Public Official Election Act violation, Lee, who narrowly lost to President Yoon Suk Yeol in March 2022, has four other court proceedings underway regarding criminal charges.
But none of the criminal cases against the two-term lawmaker who leads the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is likely to be concluded anytime soon. Lee can now firmly be considered a potential front-runner in an early presidential election in recent polls.
For a case surrounding Lee's charges of instigating perjury, the appellate court trial has yet to begin. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. Lee was acquitted of charges in the lower court decision.
It is the only case that reached a verdict in a district court.
Another case concerns charges of breach of trust by collusion with private-sector developers that resulted in financial losses of at least 500 billion won ($342 million) for a state-run land developer, during his tenure as a mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in the mid-2010s. Given the complexity of the case, it is unlikely that a district court judgment would come out within the next few months, although some perpetrators in the high-profile land corruption scandal have already been convicted.
Lee's criminal trial on charges of involvement in unlawful money transfers to North Korea has stalled for more than three months, since the court accepted Lee's request to remove a district court judge assigned for his trial.
A separate trial on embezzlement charges has yet to begin in a district court, as that court will convene a pretrial hearing on April 8.
This leaves only the criminal case surrounding Lee's public statements as a presidential candidate in 2021. The Seoul High Court on Wednesday acquitted Lee of all charges, reversing the lower court decision that had found Lee guilty.
Lee was accused of making false claims by saying he had not independently carried out a controversial property rezoning, but instead had been forced to do so. He was also convicted for denying that he had played golf with a figure in the land corruption scandal.
As the prosecution appealed Thursday, the top court's sentence is to come within three months, as Article 270 of the Election Act stipulates the mandatory statute on the trial period for an election crime.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on whether Lee may become immune to any of the current criminal charges against him should he become president.
Article 84 of the Constitution stipulates that a South Korean president "shall not be charged with a criminal offense during the tenure" except for insurrection or treason. But the Constitution does not clearly state whether an incumbent president could be convicted of a crime if he or she was indicted before becoming president.
The loophole has triggered mixed views.
Lee and his supporters have claimed that a presidential candidate facing criminal charges should no longer be criminally charged once he or she rises to power.
Regarding the matter, Rep. Park Jie-won, a five-term lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, said in an interview with CBS that all criminal trials involving Lee must immediately stop once the opposition leader is elected president.
Rep. Shin Dong-wook of the ruling People Power Party, however, counterclaimed that the clause is widely seen in academic circles as designed to prevent the prosecution from indicting a sitting president, not to halt ongoing criminal trials involving a presidential candidate.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
